A 26-year-old woman arrested last month on a charge of murdering her infant nephew has been indicted by the O'ahu grand jury on the same charge.

Head injuries, which led to the death of 7-week-old Maika Conrad K. Lawelawe-Westbrook, were "inconsistent" with Natalee Westbrook's story that the child fell off a sofa, Deputy Prosecutor Vickie Kapp said in court yesterday.

Westbrook told police she was babysitting the child as well as her own son May 9 and found him lying unresponsive on the floor of her family's Mililani home. Emergency personnel weren't summoned until after Westbrook took the boy to a neighbor's house, Kapp said.

He died the next day.

Westbrook's lawyer, Eric Seitz, said his client is not guilty.

"We look forward to getting the autopsy records and medical reports and proceeding from there," Seitz said.

Seitz repeated his comments made after a court hearing last month that police "mishandled" their investigation of the case and rushed to file criminal charges against Westbrook.

He said on June 16 that the child "had a blood clot in his head when he was born" and that may have been a factor in his death.

"We don't know what happened," Seitz said.

He called the case a "tragedy" and the way it has been handled by police "a travesty."

Westbrook's family members support her and do not believe she has done anything wrong, Seitz said.

Kapp said today that the baby suffered "severe brain injuries."

A medical examiner's report said Maika's death was from abusive head trauma, and that the manner of death was homicide.

Doctors found a large bruise on the left side of the baby's head, according to a police affidavit. They also found internal bleeding in his skull and semi-detached retinas, signs of shaken-baby syndrome, police said.

Westbrook is free after posting $150,000 bail and will be arraigned later on a charge of second-degree murder.