News Archive

The death of survivor of shaken-baby syndrome who died from those injuries 34 years later is being investigated as a homicide. Professor Novella Nedeff, ’83, talked about the case for a story published in the Indianapolis Star.

Patrick Mitchell was 2 months old when his mother left him in the care of her friend, John Coleman. Coleman was convicted of battery and served two and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of shaking the baby to stop him crying. Mitchell died February 12. The injuries caused a brain hemorrhage that left him blind, deaf, bedridden, and unable to breathe or eat on his own.

In all her research through criminal law textbooks, Professor Nedeff told the Star she couldn’t come up with clear guidance regarding how the case may proceed. “They don’t teach this in law school because it’s so rare,” she said in the story. She pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1912 that upheld an exception to double jeopardy laws if a victim’s death occurred many years later. Indiana has never considered a “delayed death” law and such a case has never before been brought in a state court, she said.

Professor Nedeff is a clinical professor of law and teaches in the Criminal Defense Clinic.