Prosecutors in Pennsylvania say the death penalty is on the table for a Ph.D. student accused of killing a 6-week-old baby and severely injuring his twin brother while she was babysitting them in June.
Nicole Virzi, a 30-year-old from California, was charged with homicide, aggravated assault and child endangerment in the case involving the newborn twin boys in Pittsburgh.
According to a criminal complaint and a death penalty notice obtained by TODAY.com, the medical examiner determined one of the boys, Leon Katz, died of blunt force trauma on June 16.
Virzi was charged with homicide in connection with the boy’s death, as well as the abuse of Leon’s twin brother.
David Shrager, Virzi’s defense attorney, told NBC News that he would pursue acquittal for his client.
“This was not the direction we hoped the case would go,” Shrager said. “We strongly disagree with the allegations made by the DA’s office regarding the death penalty. We will of course be litigating this case aggressively until the truth comes out.”
What happened to Leon Katz?
Leon Katz was a 6-week-old infant who died on June 16 after sustaining multiple head injuries while in Virzi’s care.
According to a verified GoFundMe page, he and his twin brother, Ari, were born in May to Savannah Roberts and Ethan Katz, who lived in Pittsburgh.
On the day before he died, Leon spent time with Virzi on an outing with his parents and twin brother, according to a police complaint.
At some point that day, police said, Virzi pointed out to Roberts and Katz that Ari had blood in his diaper and that his penis was red and swollen, the complaint said.
Virzi said Leon was left in her care sometime around 6:30 p.m. at Roberts and Katz’s apartment while they brought Ari to the hospital.
Virzi told investigators that she had fallen asleep while Leon was in a bouncer seat. When she woke up, she said she went to the kitchen to get a bottle for him while he remained unstrapped in his bouncer seat. While in the kitchen, Virzi heard the boy screaming, she said.
When she found the boy, he was lying on the ground and had a large bump on the left side of his head, she told police. She said she called the boys parents, and then called police at around 11:17, p.m., according the complaint. She told police the baby was conscious and breathing, but becoming non-responsive.
Emergency medical and fire teams responded to the scene, and Leon was taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center- Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:47 a.m. the next day, the complaint said.
An investigator for the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office reported that a CT scan showed Leon sustained a severe skull fracture to the left side of his head and had multiple brain bleeds, according to the complaint.
A physician from Child Advocacy Center informed detectives that the injuries found on Leon were consistent with ones sustained as a result of child abuse, and the injuries were inflicted “not natural and not accidental.”
Who is Nicole Virzi?
At the time of Leon Katz’s death, Nicole Elizabeth Virzi was pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, studying behavioral medicine. Her student profile on the UCSD website was recently taken down.
The GoFundMe page described her as a “trusted family friend” of Savannah Roberts and Ethan Katz.
At the time of the incident, Virzi was staying at an Airbnb about an eight-minute drive away from the family apartment where the alleged incidents took place, police said.
What are the charges against Nicole Virzi?
In addition to homicide, she has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of endangerment of child welfare.
Virzi waived her preliminary hearing in July, and was formally arraigned on Aug 23. She was not present for the arraignment, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Where is Nicole Virzi now?
Virzi is currently being held without bond at the Allegheny County Jail.
Her next scheduled court appearance is a pre-trial conference set for Sept. 13.
Why could Nicole Virzi face the death penalty if convicted?
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that publishes data and analysis on capital punishment, if convicted, Virzi could face the death penalty under Pennsylvania law due to aggravating factors — or conditions that make her alleged crimes more serious — that prosecutors say are relevant to her case.
Those factors include the fact that Leon Katz was under the age of 12, and also that Allegheny County prosecutors have alleged that torture was a factor in his death.
A death penalty case in the state would be rare; only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania since 1978, according to the Post-Gazette. There are no women on death row in the state.
“The decision to seek such is made only after careful and serious consideration of whether we believe we have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factors outweigh potential mitigating factors,” Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said in a statement to CNN.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Source Agencies
