PhD student accused of killing her friend’s newborn baby could face death penalty if convicted

A PhD student charged with killing her friend’s newborn baby and injuring his infant twin brother could face the death penalty if she’s convicted of the horrific crime, according to Pennsylvania prosecutors.

The Allegheny District Attorney’s Office revealed in court Friday it plans to seek capital punishment against Nicole Virzi , who allegedly smashed the skull of 6-week-old Leon Katz while she was baby-sitting the tot inside the family’s Pittsburgh-area home in June.

Virzi, 30, was watching the baby after Leon’s parents, Ethan Katz and his wife, Savannah Roberts, took his twin sibling, Ari, to the hospital for injuries that the California woman was later also accused of inflicting.

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Prosecutors filed notice that they intend to pursue the death penalty in the June 15 homicide, citing various aggravating factors for the rare step, including allegedly committing the homicide by means of torture, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Virzi claimed that Leon tumbled from his bouncer chair when she stepped away, but doctors found the injuries “consistent with having been sustained as a result of child abuse, as these are inflicted injuries that are not natural and not accidental,” WTAE previously reported, citing court records and police.

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The county’s medical examiner ruled Leon’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. A head CT scan showed Leon suffered a severe skull fracture to the left side of the head, along with multiple brain bleeds.

She’s facing charges of homicide, aggravated assault and child endangerment.

Virzi, who was reportedly a clinical psychology student at UC San Diego’s Joint Doctoral Program, was referred to as a “trusted family friend” in a fundraising page established in the aftermath of the death.

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While Virzi hails from California, she was staying in a Pittsburgh-area Airbnb at the time of the killing.

Virzi’s attorney, David Shrager, said last month that his client was devastated by Leon’s death while claiming she was innocent.

“If there was something that she would want to convey, it would just be the absolutely horrible pain that she’s feeling,” Shrager said, according to the newspaper. “These were her close friends.”

No woman is currently on death row in Pennsylvania and Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has vowed not to sign off on any death warrant while he’s in office.

Virzi didn’t appear during her formal arraignment Friday and waived a preliminary hearing last month, the Post-Gazette reported.

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