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Leo Ackley convicted again for killing toddler

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BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — A man once convicted of killing a 3-year-old girl met was convicted again after being granted a retrial.

Leo Ackley was initially convicted of shaking his girlfriend’s daughter Baylee Stenman, but the Michigan Supreme Court ordered a new trial for him on the grounds that he wasn’t properly defended in the first trial.

Baylee died from a brain injury in 2011 while in Ackley’s care. Prosecutors say she died from physical abuse. Ackley said she died after falling out of bed.

October 20, Ackley was found guilty again by a jury in Calhoun County.

The University of Michigan Law School received a federal grant to challenge so-called “shaken baby convictions,” including Ackley’s case.