CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Charges have been dropped against a woman accused in a deadly child abuse case.

The woman, who is not identified in this report because charges were dropped, was arrested in late 2019 after staff at the Medical University of South Carolina reported that an infant was brought into the hospital suffering from severe head trauma.

The Ninth Judicial Circuit announced Friday that the case was dismissed because of a lack of proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant caused deadly injuries to the child.

A court filing on Friday said there are no witnesses to the physical assault. There is no physical evidence that conclusively supports the charges against this defendant versus other suspects.

“The defendant gave a formal statement in which she accuses her boyfriend … of inflicting the injuries,” the document read, further stating that the woman claimed her boyfriend was alone with the child for a “substantial period of time” before the infant was taken to MUSC.

The boyfriend gave a brief interview with police and has refused to cooperate with the state, according to the filing.

Authorities said that the baby was taken to an emergency room in North Charleston on November 22, 2019, where it suffered a decreased mental status, a large hematoma on the right side of its head, and other injuries.

The child was taken to MUSC for treatment but his “condition immediately declined.” A CT scan revealed a large skull fracture. “The MRI demonstrated a massive right hemispheric ADC dark stroke. The prognosis was the child was unlikely to survive,” the document stated.

And the child died just a few weeks later while at MUSC.

In the documents, officials said that the defendant maintained the child was “fine” when she left him with the boyfriend. They said interviews with DSS investigators did not reveal any past physical abuse by the child’s mother, nor did records from the child’s pediatrician.

It also said that law enforcement went to the mother’s home but did not visit the boyfriend’s home, where the baby would have initially been in distress.

“The state’s forensic pediatrician expert has opined regarding the nature of the inflicted injuries. The expert confirmed that pinpointing the precise moment the injuries were inflicted is impossible,” the filing said. “The injuries may have been inflicted up to two hours before [the boyfriend] and [the mother] brought the baby to the emergency room.”

“…because the injuries were so severe, the baby would have had severe and immediate symptoms. The child would not have been acting normally as described by [the boyfriend]. …if the descriptions of the child were accurate, the baby could not have been injured before arriving at [the boyfriend’s] home. This means that … both were capable of injuring the child before [the mother] left to run an errand. Likewise, [the boyfriend] could have injured the child while [mother] was on an errand,” the expert continued.

Assistant Solicitor Deborah Herring-Lash concluded that it was impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt who inflicted injuries to the child. “In light of the expert’s opinion, the State cannot prove where or when the child was injured, or who inflicted the injuries,” she said.

The charges, in this case, are dismissed without prejudice but noted that should any future useful evidence be presented regarding who committed the crime, the state will evaluate that evidence and take appropriate action.