SYRACUSE - A prosecutor testified Monday there was no intentional delay bringing murder charges against a 50-year-old woman accused of suffocating her 5-month-old son in 1980 and that her case should proceed to trial.

But defense attorney Ken Moynihan tried to show during a three-hour hearing in Onondaga County Court that the delay in prosecuting Shirley Winters was unreasonable and has jeopardized her right to a fair trial.

Moynihan has asked for the charges to be dismissed, noting that two doctors and a mortician originally involved in Winters' case have since died, leaving the defense without access to three important witnesses.

Judge Joseph Fahey said he would issue his decision on April 25, just four days before Winters goes on trial in St. Lawrence County Court for the 2006 drowning death of another child, 23-month-old Ryan Rivers of Pierrepont.

Winters was charged in March 2007 with smothering her son, Ronald Winters III - whose death was originally attributed to sudden infant death syndrome #- after authorities exhumed the remains of the boy and two siblings killed in a suspicious 1979 fire in Jefferson County.

Investigators renewed their interest in the deaths of the Winters children after the Rivers drowning. The toddler drowned in the bathroom of his grandparents house while Winters was staying with the family.

During a three-hour hearing Monday, Moynihan tried to persuade Fahey that three other medical examiners had reviewed the baby's death and did not find any wrongdoing. In addition to the initial determination, Ronald Winters' case was reviewed again in 1992 and 1995 after questions were raised by investigators.

Medical Examiner Dr. Mary Jumbelic #- who was called as a witness by the defense #- acknowledged that if any criminality had been found, it would have been her predecessors' obligation to refer the case to the district attorney's office.

Jumbelic stubbornly acknowledged that “there was nothing physical to explain the death” uncovered during the exhumation, and that she determined the baby was suffocated based on Winters' long criminal history and the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of her two other children #- Colleen, 3, and 20-month-old John #- and the St. Lawrence County toddler.

She also admitted that she has never issued an autopsy report on Ronald Winters' death or amended his death certificate to show he did not die of natural causes. Instead, her findings were recounted in a two-page letter.

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick denied his office delayed prosecuting Winters to gain a tactical advantage and recited a list of factors he said caused him to take a fresh look at the case, including that the original autopsy did not include a forensic examination.

Since then, prosecutors also uncovered medical records that showed Ronald Winters III was monitored for sleep apnea and had experienced breathing difficulties on at least two occasions, both times when he was alone with his mother. Additionally, he said, two relatives, including the boy's father, have contacted authorities with incriminating testimony about Shirley Winters.

It was the combination of factors that revealed “a consistent pattern of an offender who murders children and led me to the conclusion that we had a viable case,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick testified that authorities acted promptly once the new information was brought to their attention, noting that Winters was charged exactly one month after a judge ordered the exhumation of her children.

“If we knew then (in 1992 and 1995) what we know now, we certainly would have proceeded differently,” Fitzpatrick said.