Charges are dropped against woman suspected of killing her baby in Sumner County
Charges against a woman in her 20s who was suspected of killing her 7-month-old baby have been dropped, according to the Sumner Newscow.
Shelby Johnson was charged in the case in July 2018 in the death of Jesslinn Hulett. The Newscow reported Friday that Sumner County Attorney Larry Marczynski II dropped the second-degree murder case against Johnson, but will refer the case back to local law enforcement department for further investigation.
The Newscow had the following statement from Marczynski:
“After careful review of the posture and prosecution of the case thus far, and thorough consideration of all the reports and evidence available in this case, I have determined that the State of Kansas lacks the sufficient evidence necessary to prove the case against Ms. Johnson beyond a reasonable doubt. As such I have decided to dismiss the matter without prejudice pending further investigation. This decision was not made lightly. Together with my chief deputy attorney, we carefully reviewed the file and the totality of the evidence. The prior County Attorney had filed an interlocutory appeal regarding the admissibility of evidence, and the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled against the State in State v. Johnson, Slip op. 122,243. This decision effectively suppressed evidence critical for the State to prove the case.”
A criminal complaint in the case detailed the events surrounding Jesslinn’s death:
Jesslinn’s father, Schuyler Hulett, found her limp and not breathing on the morning of Easter Sunday. Milk was running from her nose and mouth.
It was a little over an hour after Johnson said she got up and fed Jesslinn 2 ounces of milk and then laid her back on the living room floor. Johnson went back to sleep for an hour — until Hulett came back into the room yelling for her to call 911.
Hulett attempted CPR and then decided it would be quicker to drive Jesslinn to the hospital. He called 911 and started driving.
Jesslinn would never breathe on her own again.
Four days after she was checked into the hospital, the 7-month-old girl was taken off life support.
An autopsy would later reveal Jesslinn’s fourth through eighth ribs were broken and healing. According to her autopsy, those were caused by blunt force trauma to the trunk. Johnson said Jesslinn never acted like she was in pain and did not cry, so it didn’t make sense that she had broken ribs.
Medical experts say head injuries that Jesslinn had could have happened only that morning.
Asked if it was possible one of the other children in the house did it, a doctor at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita said it was “ridiculous.”
Katherine Melhorn of the Pediatric Critical Care Team at Wesley developed two theories about Jesslinn’s injuries, which included three skull fractures and brain swelling.
Jesslinn’s injuries were caused by someone violently shaking her until her head hit something, fracturing her skull. Or, if Jesslinn was not shaken, her head was hit against something hard at least three times.
Prosecutors say Johnson woke up, shook or beat Jesslinn, and then went back to sleep for an hour.
Johnson told an FBI agent that she never hit Jesslinn’s head on anything and had no explanation for how the baby got head injuries.
Contributing: Chance Swaim with The Eagle
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 6:59 PM.