PhD Candidate Accused of Murdering Baby Could Face Death Penalty: DA

hi there my name is Nicole verie that was PhD candidate Nicole verie in a video describing her research she's now in jail accused of murdering a baby boy on Father's Day and prosecutors say they are going to pursue the death penalty against her she is devastated uh knowing that her friend's child is deceased and uh is trying her best to uh stay positive you'll hear more from Nicole ver lawyer and I'll outline the reasons why the Commonwealth says it will pursue the death penalty welcome to Crime fix I'm Anette Levy I first told you about Nicole verie back in June she was a PhD candidate in Psychology and she was studying at San Diego State University she's the daughter of a prominent New York City cardiologist she has everything going for her in June she was charged with murdering a baby of a couple she called her friends she's also accused us of injuring that baby boy's twin brother verie is charged with killing Leon cats he and his twin brother were 6 and a half weeks old at the time police say leyon died on Father's Day and that verie had also injured his twin brother before that by causing injuries to his genitals the death of Leon cats is such a sad and tragic case and it's really hard to talk about the details are heartbreaking but we're able to bring it to you because of sponsors like City lips City lips is not a painful lip plum plumper that stings it will give you Fuller healthier and younger looking lips City lips uses clinically tested ingredients and soothing moisturizers just swipe it on clean bare lips and after a few minutes you will experience the full effect of City lips to try City lips click the link in the description scan the QR code on your screen or go to citybeauty.com LC crifix use the code law 15 for 15% off of your order verie has pleaded not guilty to the charges that include criminal hom side an aggravated assault I spoke with her lawyer David shreer about the Commonwealth's decision to pursue the death penalty certainly is something that we were hoping wouldn't happen uh I understood that it may happen I was hoping that it wouldn't um that being said no matter how many times you do this or how experienced lawyer you are it's always disheartening and hard to hear that one of your clients may be facing the death penalty um I think that if you get to the point that that doesn't give you pause emotionally and personally then you either have been doing this too long or not long enough to understand the magnitude of the responsibility of that so it's of course something that we uh internalize uh it would be uh wrong not to but then we have to do our work after we've dealt with that emotionally now it's time to do the work the probable cause affidavit says ver called 911 on June 15th before mid midnight and said leyon suffered a bump to the Head after falling from a bassinet the document said the baby was becoming non-responsive Leon was rushed to the hospital the affidavit said his parents had left Leon in Nicole V's care after taking his twin brother to the hospital for the injuries to his genitals which verzy had actually told them about police said leyon suffered a severe skull fracture and multiple brain bleeds the affidavit says Dr Wolford of the Child Advocacy Center informed detective O'Neal that the injury sustained by both John Doe and Leon Katz is consistent with having been sustained as a result of child abuse as they are inflicted injuries that are not natural and not accidental verie agreed to speak to police at the police department the affidavit States verie was unable to provide any plausible explanation for the cause consistent with the extent of the injuries that Leon cat sustained while in her care ver stated that she was with Savannah Roberts e and cats and the twins on 6:15 of 2024 they went on an outing in the afternoon hours and she was out by herself at a grocery store after that verie estimated that at approximately 1830 hours at 6:30 p.m. the parents took the John Doe to the hospital for an injury to the genital area verzy identified herself as the sole caretaker for Leon cats while the parents and brother were at the hospital detectives said that verie told them that leyon was fine after his parents left that he had eaten soiled two diapers and was burped the affidavit continues verie stated that she fell asleep for a period of time while Leon was in the bouncer seat she woke up and went to the kitchen to get a bottle for Leon at that time Leon was in the bouncer seat but not strapped into the seat detectives claim verie said she went into the kitchen and heard Leon screaming and then found him on his left side on the floor and picked him up Leon died hours later at the hospital it was Father's Day the affidavit detailed the injuries that Leon's twin brother also suffered it reads it should be noted that your aiant spoke with Dr Wolford who states that John Doe's injuries are as follows two scratches to the right cheek one small scratch below the left side of the nose one small scratch to the left cheek two bruises below the belly button bruising swelling and redness to the penis and scratches to the tip of the penis in addition Dr Wolford believed that all of Leon's injuries were acute an autopsy performed determined that Leon Katz died as the result of blunt force trauma his death was ruled a homicide his parents denied causing the injuries to Leon or his twin brother prosecutors have filed this notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Nicole verie listing four aggravating factors first they say verie committed the killing while in perpetration of a felony second they say the offense was committed by means of torture third prosecutors say they'll introduce produce evidence that the defendant has a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the person the fourth aggravating Factor cited by prosecutors the victim was under the age of 12 now these are all things that prosecutors would present at sentencing verie would have to be convicted first here's more of B's attorney on how he plans to defend the case she is handling it as well as to be expected I think that she's maintained a good mindset and has remained positive she understands that the process is a lengthy one and that she will have her day in court she will get to tell her side of the story uh she will get to share her truth but that takes some time and that's difficult for people to deal with it's hard to understand that our justice system works in in a way that it takes a long time to get to be able to the point where most of the people are expecting which is a trial a trial happens at the end of a criminal case and that can be measured in years potentially Dave aronberg is the state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida so Dave you've had to make this decision before about whether or not to pursue the death penalty so what goes into making that decision Antonette good to be back with you when it comes to the State of Florida you have to have aggravators that are statutory to seek the death penalty meaning there's got to be an action here that was heinous atrocious and cruel that's an aggravator or cold calculated and premeditated that's another aggravator the age of the victim matters these are all potential aggravators they're all set forth in statute you have to have at least a unanimous vote by the 12 member jury on at least one aggravator and then the defense gets to put on unlimited mitigators and unlike the prosecutors the defense can put on any mitigator there are none uh they have to follow in the statute you can say well her mom didn't love her enough her mom smoked while she was in the womb whatever and if a jury you know believes that any of the mitigators outweigh an aggravator then there's no death penalty at least not for that juror now in Florida nowadays it doesn't have to be unanimous verdict the AGG an aggravator has to be unanimous but the the decision to seek the death penalty and to give someone the death penalty that can be done by an 8 to four vote by a 12 member jury does not have to be unanimous jury any longer in Florida this is Pennsylvania and the they've listed four aggravating factors as the reasons why they'll be pursuing the death penalty against Nicole ver her attorney of course says she's innocent um and she looks forward to presenting her case when the time comes they're disappointed that the prosecution is pursuing the death penalty um but one of these aggravators that they list the first one is that the defendant committed the killing while in perpetration of a felony and to me I'm looking at that and I see that possibly um possible abuse of the child harming the child um resulted in a homicide um do you think that's how they're getting to that aggravating Factor yes and that's the same way in Florida if you're in the commission of another crime it could be a battery that leads to a death remember in the case of George Floyd we saw that where the cops were convicted the main cop at least of committing a death in the commission of a felony well the felony is the battery and then someone dies so it could be the same course of conduct uh that gets you there and so yes and unlike Florida and Pennsylvania you need to have unanimous jury to get the death penalty so uh there is a higher burden for prosecutors but this case is really horrific especially because it looked like she tried to kill two children two babies uh the intent uh seems to be there because after the first one was rush to the hospital then the the next one died and it just it's it's terrific the the one thing going for her in this case we have to talk straight here andette is that as a prosecutor is that it is harder to get the death penalty on a female defendant jurors are less likely to approve death for a woman especially a young woman defendant uh we've seen this all over the country Susan Smith and other places where it it's just the reality that uh jurors are less likely to go there uh the second aggravating Factor um is the defense was the offense was committed by means of torture I mean that just sounds so horrific it it conjures up so many different images in the mind I mean this was a little tiny six and a half week old baby again Nicole verie maintains um that she is not guilty of the crimes charged that's the plea that she has entered um but you know calling this torture I mean this little child suffered these horrific skull fractures according to the medical evidence that will be presented by the Commonwealth um so torture how do you as a prosecutor present evidence of that well in the absence of videos or confessions or Witnesses you need to rely on the medical examiner's report to say that you see the skull fractures so she must have been doing something really awful uh and that's torturous Behavior but it's going to be a tough one to get a unanimous jury to agree on that aggravator because in the minds of of a jury torture is what you see in the movies it's you know it's it's it's horrific it's uh like the movie Marathon Man Dustin Hoffman where you have an evil dentist who's you know who's who's uh Drilling in your teeth without anesthesia to torture you that's the kind of thing in people's minds when you're coming uh in a situation like this I don't know if that's going to reach the level in people's minds that they'll be convinced to impose a death penalty I I think that aggravator will be harder than the other one the one of a death occurring in the commission of another crime uh the third one is the defendant has a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the person um you know I spoke with the attorney for Nicole verie and he said obviously she has no prior criminal record you know we've looked into that we did not find any prior criminal record but this involves um the possible harming I guess of her of Leon Katz's twin brother and then this child as well um the twin brother I guess was harmed according to the prosecutors before leyon was then harmed and this is all the prosecution's theory uh so that's another aggravating factor that they will have to prove and I guess they will prove that through the testimony um through medical evidence and then the parents taking that child to the hospital right and that is easily believable that these two awful circumstances were related that she didn't just try to kill the second child and not the first how the first end up in the emergency room with such awful injuries so you can use the first incident to help get the death penalty for the second incident you can piggyback under the law so that's somewhere where the jurors may go along with that because the law says you can't and then finally the victim being under 12 years of age I mean that's a pretty easy one this was a an infant six and a half week old baby so if there is ultimately a conviction in this case Nicole verie is indeed found guilty if that happens at trial I mean that is probably the easiest of the aggravating factors to prove I mean that I mean it's a baby uh this this was the most defenseless of victims and that that is the easiest of the aggravators all you is one to be proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt then you're eligible for the death penalty the defense is going to put on I would suspect a vibrant case in the penalty phase to show that you know she had all these reasons all these mitigating factors here she's you know mentally uh not with it totally she's got issues she's had uh you know she's tried to do the right thing but she just snapped and something terrible happened that day and spare her life and it's going to be tough for a jury a unanimous 12 person jury to look and at that at this young woman who be sitting close to them for this entire trial and then say yeah you should die I think it is an uphill battle for prosecutors not impossible uh but this is such a horrific case and you know as someone who uh supports capital punishment I'm glad that it's on the table here I I'll leave you with this and Janette it is a benefit to prosecutors to seek the death penalty uh in terms of getting a more conservative jury jurors must agree that they can impose a death penalty to be elected for that jury if you say I'm oppos to the death P you're not going to make it on the jury so that helps prosecutors because now you have a more conservative jury to start with a jury that supports a death penalty you know I mean that will impose it so already at the beginning day one of any trial prosecutors have a better jury for them than you would in a regular case the death penalty you mentioned that you support it that you support capital punishment um you know it's it's still on the books there in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania but they haven't had an execution since 1999 these are rarely carried out in a lot of States uh that still have them on the books so uh obviously it's still the law of the land so the prosecutors will the district attorneys will pursue it uh when they deem that it's necessary but uh do you ever see like a conflict there where if it's not going to be carried out and it costs a lot through the appeals process and things of that nature I mean is it really worth it uh to go through that additional layer of a trial as a prosecutor we listen a lot to victim's families and we all know what they think and a lot of times they're opposed to death penalty and and we'll take that in consideration obviously it is expensive it is timec consuming it puts victim's families through the ringer over and over again as the seemingly endless appeals continue through the system but you know some crimes are so horrible that life in prison is is not is not enough Justice that there's some crimes that are so despicable so evil that it demands the ultimate penalty and that's why I I support it plus it has helped in some cases where the defendant is totally guilty to speed things up uh because they'll take a plea for life to avoid the death penalty so that has helped deliver Justice to families in cases where the defendant's going to cop to what he or she did admit to it take ownership and then will avoid the death penal whereas they would never have done that had the death penalty not been on the table so you know I understand I see I see both sides to it but um in the end I think the considerations weigh in favor of capital punishment for me I just think in Pennsylvania in this case of this young woman defendant I think it's going to be very challenging to get the death penalty here especially if Pennsylvania has not implemented it since 1999 it'll be interesting to see how it plays out um but it is just an awful case um this little baby should be here with his parents Dave Arenberg thank you so much thank you Anette and that's it for this episode of crime fix I'm Anette Levy thank you so much for being with me I'll see you back here next time