TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a Eudora woman who was convicted of murder after a baby died at her day care center.
The appeals court said Carrody Buchhorn received ineffective counsel before she was convicted in 2018 of second-degree murder in the death of 9-month-old boy, Oliver “Ollie” Ortiz.
He was found unresponsive at the day care in 2016. The court said Buchhorn's attorney did not properly investigate a coroner's ruling that the boy died from a blow to the head. The Douglas County District Attorney's office said it plans to appeal Friday's ruling to the Kansas Supreme Court.
------------
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A woman convicted in the killing of a 9-month-old boy at a Kansas day care has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
Forty-five-year-old Carrody Melissa Buchhorn was found guilty in July of second-degree murder in the September 2016 death of Oliver Ortiz at the Sunshine Kids Group Daycare Home in Eudora.
She was sentenced Monday.
A coroner ruled Oliver’s death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. He testified that Oliver had a fractured skull caused by enough force to make him immediately unresponsive and, without intervention, died within minutes.
Oliver’s parents last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the day care operators in whose home Oliver died, Gina Brunton and husband Morgan Eric Brunton. The court later approved a settlement.