Defendant in child abuse case pleaded no contest in 2004

This story on Peter J. Moore was published in the York Daily Record on Jan. 22, 2004.
A Lewisberry man who violently shook his three-month-old son pleaded no contest to attempted homicide this week in York County Common Pleas Court. Executive Prosecutor James Reeder said the shaken baby case might be the first in the county to end with an attempted homicide conviction.
Judge Michael J. Brillhart sentenced Peter J. Moore, 29, of Observatory Road, to six to 12 years in state prison Tuesday.
Fairview Township Police Detective Jason C. Loper arrested Moore on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child after the June incident.
At Moore’s preliminary hearing, Reeder amended the charges to include attempted homicide.
“The reason we did so was because of the specific knowledge he had,” Reeder said. “All new parents receive information regarding the dangers of shaking a baby. He signed a form testifying he received the information.”
Before leaving Polyclinic Hospital in Harrisburg with his newborn son in March, Moore was required to sign a document acknowledging he had received a brochure on shaken babies.
Moore called 911 around 11:15 a.m. June 23, telling the dispatcher his son, Brian, had rolled off the couch and onto a carpeted floor, according to Loper’s report. At the Penn State Hershey Medical Center’s pediatric intensive care unit, Dr. Kim Guglielmo told Loper that Brian’s injuries, including retinal hemorrhaging, intracranial bleeding and broken ribs were “consistent with the child being forcibly shaken.”
Brian was placed on a ventilator, and doctors inserted a tube into his skull to drain fluid from his brain. Medical personnel told Loper they were unsure of the child’s chances for survival.
Confronted with the medical evidence, Moore admitted shaking the infant because he would not stop crying, Loper reported.
Wednesday, Reeder said Brian had been taken off medication to control his seizures, a result of his injuries.
“What we can hope for now is that he will merely be delayed in development and that nothing is permanent,” he said.