A 19-year-old Calgary woman has been ordered to stand trial on second-degree murder in the death of her 26-day-old son last year.
Judge Paul Mason determined Thursday, following a four-day preliminary hearing at provincial court, that there was sufficient evidence to commit Shelby Anna Herchak to face trial on Thursday after Crown prosecutor Julie Morgan called her final witnesses.
Among the witnesses called in the hearing were Herchak’s parents, with whom she lived at the time.
Herchak was arrested shortly after her baby was rushed to Alberta Children’s Hospital from the family’s Lakeview home in the city’s southwest. He died later the same day.
An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt-force trauma to the head. The baby’s father, whom police said at the time was estranged from Herchak, was not a suspect.
Herchak was previously granted bail, but it was rescinded by her parents after she was charged with seven counts of breaching conditions of release – mostly for not abiding by a curfew.
A trial on those charges is set for Jan. 17.
Herchak will appear at Court of Queen’s Bench in December, likely to set a trial date.
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