Pediatrician accused of killing daughter, 4, then staging it to look like drowning has charges DOWNGRADED

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A pediatrician who was previously accused of murdering her four-year-old daughter has had her charges downgraded to aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, was accused of murdering her toddler, Aria Talathi, while the two were vacationing in El Portal, Florida, on June 27.
Aria was found unresponsive in the backyard pool just after 3:30 am by the El Portal Police Department after a 911 call reported a child drowning.
Paramedics with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue performed CPR at the scene, and the child was rushed to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Doctors discovered that Aria had cuts and bruises inside her mouth and didn't have water in her lungs.
Her death was consistent with smothering, not drowning, contrary to what her mother had reported to authorities.
A medical examiner in Miami ruled out drowning as a cause of death and suggested that Aria died of asphyxiation.
Gupta was accused of smothering her daughter to death and staging the drowning. Police initially recommended a charge of murder in the first degree.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office took over the case and arrested Gupta at her home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with assistance from the Oklahoma City Police Department's Homicide Unit and the United States Marshals Service, a press release announced at the time.
Body camera footage of Gupta's dramatic arrest revealed US Marshals banging on her door and busting it down when the pediatrician didn't respond.
They searched her home and found her hiding in the corner of her laundry room in what appeared to be her pajamas.
Gupta complied with the officers' commands and knelt on the floor with her hands behind her back.
An incident report stated that authorities saw Gupta near the door of her home before she hid in the laundry room. Child's toys were seen scattered around the house in the footage of the arrest.
Gupta told police that the night of her daughter's death started normally. They had dinner around 9 pm and went to sleep in the same bed around 12:30 am.
She awoke a few hours later and saw her daughter submerged in the pool outside. Gupta said she tried to save Aria but didn't know how to swim.
She added that she attempted to 'assist the deceased victim' for around 10 minutes before calling emergency services.
Detectives previously said that there were holes in Gupta's testimony. Doctors said there was no food in Aria's stomach when she died, refuting her mother's claim that they had dinner together before bed.
After Gupta's arrest, it was revealed that she had been suspended from her position at OU Health and the University of Oklahoma in May.
Gupta was also in the midst of a custody battle with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, following their divorce last year.
Talathi, who also lives in Oklahoma, previously told local news that he wasn't aware that Gupta and their daughter were vacationing in Florida.
Gupta was arrested on July 1 and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center without bond.
She was then extradited to Miami-Dade County, where she has been held without bond. Gupta didn't attend the recent hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary James.
Her attorneys have maintained that Aria's death was a tragic accident and that Gupta is a grieving mother.
Gupta's lawyer, Michael Mirer, told reporters after Thursday's court hearing, 'Our position from day one has been that Dr. Gupta did not intentionally harm her child, that her child tragically got out of the locked door and fell into the pool accidentally, and this [is confirmed] by the state's filing,' the Miami Herald reported.
Mirer said that Gupta's arrest paperwork is 'no longer valid,' adding, 'I think today was a vindication for Dr. Gupta, because the state has now decided not to charge her with murder'.
Ed Griffith, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, said in a statement, 'Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the [first] degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge'.
Another hearing is scheduled for Monday to discuss Gupta's eligibility for bond. A trial hearing was tentatively set for November.