Louise Woodward looks on as the appeal takes place.

March 9, 1998 -- Perhaps one of the final chapters in the British Au Pair case was written today as both prosecutors and defense lawyers for Louise Woodward appealed their cases before Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

During this hearing, which had been delayed from its original March 6 date because of an electrical explosion within the courthouse, prosecutors claimed that Woodward's original conviction of second-degree murder should be reinstated. In her argument, prosecutor Sabita Singh said that Judge Hiller Zobel overstepped his boundaries as a trial judge by reducing the jury's original conviction of second-degree murder to manslaughter and that it was by the defense's own choice that the jury was not given manslaughter as an option for convicting Woodward.

Defense attorney Andrew Good expains how suppressed evidence affected the defense's case.

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However, Woodward's attorney, Andrew Good, argued two points: (1) that his client should be acquitted of the charges because the defense medical evidence that Matthew Eappen died from the aggravation of a pre-existing head injury was overwhelming and (2) that there should be a new trial for Woodward because early in the case, defense medical examiners were deprived of taking a specimen of Eappen's skull fracture. The defense's pathologist did not know that the state medical examiner was performing an autopsy on Eappen and was deprived of gathering more evidence that would have further bolstered Woodward's defense that the infant died from a prior injury that had manifested suddenly. In addition, Good argued that part of the specimen gathered by state medical examiners had been discarded, depriving defense pathologists the chance to examine the evidence.

Prosecutor Sabita Singh refutes the defense's claim that the prosecution suppressed key medical evidence.

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Prosecutor Singh countered this defense argument by saying that the defense's lack of opportunity to gather evidence from Eappen's autopsy did not come up at trial and that they had other resources with which to put on a strong defense for Woodward (which, Singh pointed out, they did). The seven-justice panel seemed to express interest in the defense arguments for a new trial but did not seem impressed by its arguments for an acquittal for Woodward.

Louise Woodward was convicted for second-degree murder in the death of Matthew Eappen on October 30, 1997. But, in a stunning decision, presiding Judge Hiller Zobel overturned the jury's conviction on Nov. 10 and reduced it to manslaughter. Zobel sentenced Woodward to 279 days in jail -- the time Woodward had already served in jail for Eappen's death. Woodward has been out of prison ever since but has not been allowed to return to England. Whether she returns to her native country depends on the outcome of this appeals hearing.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is expected to issue a written ruling on the appeals within four months.