A Springfi eld daycare owner convicted in December of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a child in her care has been sentenced to four years in prison. Cammie Kelly was charged with fi rstdegree murder in 2011 after 11-month-old Kaiden Gullidge of Rochester went unconscious at her home day care. At Kelly’s trial just before Christmas 2015, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser characterized the child’s death as the result of violent shaking by Kelly. She denied the allegation, and her attorney attempted to show that Kaiden died from a stroke, as evidenced by his history of chronic health problems. The jury deliberated for more than 12 hours, ultimately convicting Kelly on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. The case was typical of “shaken baby syndrome” cases nationwide, in which a child dies without outward signs of injury and the last person to care for the child is charged with shaking her or him to death. There is growing resistance in the medical and legal communities regarding whether “shaken baby syndrome” is legitimate, leading to uneven outcomes in such cases. In February, Sangamon County Presiding Judge John Belz sentenced Kelly to four years in prison, with credit for the 215 days she has already served in county jail. Now housed at Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Kelly has appealed her conviction to the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfi eld. To read more about the case, visit bit.ly/kellysbs.