Top lawyer to defend Irish nanny accused of baby murder

A high-profile defence lawyer has been added to the legal team of Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy whose Boston trial for murder is now just over two months away.

David Meier, a partner at Todd & Weld LLP, has been a trial attorney for over 25 years and has been praised by colleagues as someone who seeks justice for those “wrongfully convicted”.

Already representing Ms Brady McCarthy is Melinda Thompson, who has proven to be a passionate advocate for her 35-year-old client.

The Cavan native denies murdering one-year-old Rehma Sabir in the Boston suburb of Cambridge in January of last year and will be tried in front of a jury at Middlesex Superior Court in the Boston suburb of Woburn in early April.

Ms Brady McCarthy has been in custody in the Boston area since a few days after the death of the baby and bail remains set at $500,000 (€365,670).

Ms Thompson argued last year that 90% of the evidence used to charge her client with murder should have been deemed inadmissible but she failed in her bid to prevent the trial going ahead.

Autopsy results showed that the child suffered subdural haemorrhaging as well as bruising around her lower body buttocks.

The prosecution has stated that her injuries were consistent with “violent shaking and impact to the head”.

Meier is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognised as among the best in his field.

In 2007, Meier was recognised by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a “Lawyer of the Year” and was cited for “working behind the scenes to seek justice for victims and their families, as well as those who had been wrongfully convicted”.

The prosecution’s case will be based around the fact that baby Rehma was alone with Ms Brady McCarthy on her first birthday before the child slipped out of consciousness and was rushed to hospital.

She died two days later on Jan 16.