In surprise ruling, judge frees mom charged in murder of her infant daughter

A Hanford woman charged with murder in the death of her 2-month-old daughter is being released from jail after a judge ruled Tuesday there was not enough evidence to hold her for trial.

Veronica Brouwer, 40, was arrested in June and held without bail.

Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics went to Brouwer’s home near Hanford after getting a report that the baby girl had suffered cardiac or respiratory arrest.

But an autopsy revealed blunt-force trauma injuries to the infant’s head, the sheriff’s department said. Detectives interviewed Brouwer and her husband and then arrested her.

Kings County District Attorney Keith Fagundes said Tuesday that two doctors – one for the prosecution and one for the defense – gave conflicting testimony at a preliminary hearing. Dr. Gary Walter works under contract for the Kings County Coroner’s Office and did the autopsy of the Brouwer child.

The accuracy of Walter’s autopsy reports have been questioned several times, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo reported in August. For several years, Walter worked once a week as the pathologist for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coroner.

In one murder case, the accuracy of Walter’s autopsy report was challenged when the report stated and he testified that he had checked the victim’s gallbladder. But the defense attorney showed that the gallbladder had been removed years before, The Tribune reported. The defendant was acquitted.

Walters was arrested last year in San Luis Obispo for driving drunk on the way to an autopsy, and the California Medical Board is attempting to suspend or revoke his medical license, The Tribune reported.

At Tuesday’s hearing in Kings County Superior Court, Judge Steven Barnes did not find sufficient cause to hold Brouwer for trial. Fagundes called the decision “a surprising ruling.”

Rocky Pipkin, a private investigator in Visalia who worked on the case for the defense, said about 30 family and friends of Brouwer cheered the judge’s ruling.

Prosecutors at the District Attorney’s Office will review the case and could file charges again, Fagundes said. The statute of limitations for murder has no time limit, he said.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 6:48 PM with the headline "In surprise ruling, judge frees mom charged in murder of her infant daughter."