LAYTON (AP) — Day-care provider Jeri Daines pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that she is responsible for the death of a 3-month-old baby.
Clancy Peterson died of head injuries April 4 at a Salt Lake hospital.
Daines was arraigned in 2nd District Court on charges of first-degree murder.
Earlier testimony indicated a trio of 3- and 4-year-old boys admitted hurting the baby.
"The kids may have done something," Deputy Davis County Attorney Brian Namba said. "Whatever they may have done wasn't sufficient to kill the baby."
"Jeri never shook that baby," defense attorney John Caine said. "This is three little guys that went in there and tossed this baby around."
The baby had been left at Daines' South Weber day care.
Earlier this month, a medical examiner and a pediatrician testified the baby died from shaken baby syndrome and the injury could not have been inflicted by the other children.
Daines and her daughter were the only adults overseeing the 14 children that day.
The baby's father, Boyd Peterson, said Daines was responsible for his son's death because Clancy should have been in a crib rather than a bed.
However, Peterson's wife, Natalie Peterson, testified she knew Clancy was frequently left on a bed. She also said Daines had tended her older daughter for more than a year without problems.
The trial will begin in August.