Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy set to go free as charges are dropped after two years

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Charges against Aisling Brady McCarthy, who was accused of killing one-year-old Rehma Sabir, have been dropped
A medical examiner issued an amended ruling changing the manner of death from 'homicide' to 'undetermined'
In 2013, prosecutors claimed McCarthy shook the one-year-old girl
Throughout her long trial, McCarthy's lawyers have said she's innocent
McCarthy has been living in the United States undocumented for 15 years

By Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 14:16 EST, 31 August 2015 | Updated: 17:08 EST, 31 August 2015

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Prosecutors have dropped a murder charge against an Irish nanny accused of killing a one-year-old girl after a state medical examiner reversed an earlier decision that the death was a homicide.

Aisling Brady McCarthy, 37, was charged with murder in the death of Rehma Sabir in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013.

Her lawyers said she was innocent, challenging the medical examiner's findings that Rehma died of complications of blunt-force head injuries.

Prosecutors said the girl had brain damage and extensive bleeding in her head which was consistent with being violently shaken.

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Charges against Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy, 37, who was accused of shaking a one-year-old girl and ultimately causing her death, have been dropped. Pictured here in July this year

Rehma, pictured center, is seen here with her mother and father, Nada Siddiqui (left) and Sameer Sabir (right)

McCarthy has been in and out of courts since 2013, when the baby girl, Rehma Sabir, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prosecutors said that Rehma had died after being violently shaken

But Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced on Monday that the murder charge was dropped because the medical examiner issued an amended ruling changing the manner of death from 'homicide' to 'undetermined'.

Ryan said the medical examiner found Rehma had prior medical issues and may have had some type of undiagnosed disorder.

McCarthy has been living in the U.S. illegally for 15 years. The former nanny remained in jail until May, when she was freed on a $15,000 cash bail by superior court judge Maureen Hogan, according to the Boston Globe.

At the time, Hogan said McCarthy would be deported if the criminal case against her ended. It is unknown when she will be deported.

In 2013, prosecutors claimed McCarthy violently shook Rehma, and could have even bounced her head off a changing table, allegedly leaving damage to the plaster on the wall.

Charges were dropped after the medical examiner issued an amended ruling changing the manner of death from 'homicide' to 'undetermined'

McCarthy's lawyers challenged the medical examiner's findings that Rehma died of complications of blunt-force head injuries and said their client was innocent. Pictured here in September 2013

Rehma was hospitalized on January 14 - the day of her first birthday - and declared dead two days later.

Prosecutors said that McCarthy claimed Rehma was sleeping for hours before her family called 911 when they couldn't wake her up.

They reportedly later found a pillow, baby wipes and a dish towel stained with blood.

McCarthy's lawyers argued that she is innocent and that Rehma had been injured weeks before, when McCarthy was nowhere near her, and was also an ill child who had a bleeding disorder.

'Ms McCarthy was put in jail for two-and-a-half years over a crime that never occurred,' her lawyer, Melinda Thompson, told the Globe, according to the Irish Times. 'Not just a crime that she did not commit, but a crime that did not occur.'

On Monday the medical examiner's office released a statement explaining why Rehma's death could no longer be considered a homicide, Boston.com reported.

Middlesex district attorney Marian Ryan announced on Monday that the murder charge was dropped because the medical examiner issued an amended ruling, which frees McCarthy, pictured here at an unknown date, from the charges she faced

The statement read: 'In particular the overall state of Rehma's health and her past medical issues raise the possibility that she had some type of disorder that was not able to be completely diagnosed prior to her death.

'Given these uncertainties, I am no longer convinced that the subdural hemorrhage in this case could only have been caused by abusive/inflicted head trauma, and I can no longer rule the manner of death as a homicide.'

Since Rehma's death, her parents, Nada Siddiqui and Sameer Sabir set up a foundation in their daughter's name, The Rehma Fund for Children.

The organization aims to provide equal access to high-quality healthcare to children everywhere. In doing so, it supports and works with charitable causes that further their mission, including the Boston Children's Hospital, the Children's Cancer Foundatoin and the Vietnam Vascular Anomalies Center.

They have held fundraisers in countries across the world in hopes of spreading their goal and telling their daughter's story.

McCarthy, pictured here at an unknown date, has been living in the United States illegally for 15 years. It is unknown when she will be deported to Ireland