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A look at Martha Coakley

In 1997, then chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, Martha Coakley catapulted her career during the Louise Woodward trial. Woodward, a 19-year-old British nanny, was accused of shaking 8-month-old Matthew Eappen of Newton to death. Coakley and lead prosecutor Gerard T. Leone Jr. persuaded the jury to convict Woodward of second-degree murder. But the judge reduced the charge to manslaughter and freed her.
Barry Chin for The Boston Globe
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In 1997, then chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, Martha Coakley catapulted her career during the Louise Woodward trial.

Woodward, a 19-year-old British nanny, was accused of shaking 8-month-old Matthew Eappen of Newton to death. Coakley and lead prosecutor Gerard T. Leone Jr. persuaded the jury to convict Woodward of second-degree murder. But the judge reduced the charge to manslaughter and freed her.