Commonwealth v. Latoya Green: December 11, 2014 - Latoya Green this morning pleaded guilty to Third Degree Murder and Endangering the Welfare of a Child before Dauphin County Judge Andrew H. Dowling.  Green admitted that she was responsible for the death of her 11 week old baby daughter, Zai'mera Eden.  On January 30, 2014, officers from the Harrisburg Police Department were dispatch to the Harrisburg Hospital to investigate a report of possible child abuse.  The baby's injuries were so traumatic that she was flown from Harrisburg Hospital by Life Lion to the Hershey Medical Center.  Doctors treating Zai’mera Eden at Hershey Medical Center determined that she suffered from a traumatic brain injury which caused bleeding in her brain and caused her brain to swell.  The damage to her brain was catastrophic and irreversible.  Additionally, radiology reports indicate that Zai’mera Eden also suffered multiple rib fractures in various stages of healing.  The fact that the ribs were in various stages of healing indicates that Zai’mera Eden’s rib fractures were the result of multiple incidents of abuse occurring on different dates rather than during a singular all inclusive incident.

On February 4, 2014, doctors at Hershey Medical Center pronounced Zai’mera Eden deceased.  An autopsy was performed by Dr. Wayne Ross.  Dr. Ross noted in his autopsy report, “There is evidence of traumatic brain injury,... cervical cord contusion from shaking, forceful sitting-traumatic loading noted to the lower spine, multiple rib fractures, most of which are a few weeks old."  During an interview with Detective Zimmerman, Latoya Green admitted to causing injuries to Zai’mera Eden.  Green admitted to pushing on her baby daughter’s chest on at least two occasions with enough force to fracture several ribs.  She told Det. Zimmerman that as she pushed on the baby’s chest, she was saying to Zai’mera Eden, “Please stop crying.”  Green also admitted to Det. Zimmerman that she slammed Zai’mera Eden onto her ‘pack & play’ hard enough that Ms. Green became concerned for the welfare of Zai’mera Eden.  Green described after slamming Zai’mera Eden down, she noticed that Zai’mera Eden’s breathing became shallow. 

Judge Dowling ordered a presentence investigation in this case and scheduled sentencing for February 24, 2015.  Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean McCormack is prosecuting this case for the Commonwealth.