OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Supreme Court terminated a couple’s parental rights to a Navajo child, saying Friday that the parents did not file timely appeals, in a ruling that reversed a decision by a lower appeals court.

That opinion came in the case of an infant who was severely injured in what doctors and prosecutors believe was violent shaking by one of her parents.

Court records show that the couple called 911 on Sept. 30, 2008, when their 2-month-old daughter, named only as Jamyia M. in the opinion, was found unresponsive after her mother had gone to a store and left the infant with her father.

Doctors who treated Jamyia later testified that the girl had injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, including bleeding on the brain and retinal hemorrhaging.

The injuries left her with cognitive motor and language delays, visual impairment due to retinal hemorrhages to both eyes, seizures and neurological problems, doctors said. The girl, who is now about 3 years old, has difficulty swallowing and requires a feeding tube to supplement her daily oral feeding, and she cannot walk or talk, according to court records.

A doctor testifying for the parents said the baby’s injuries were not the result of being shaken, but were due to infection, recurrent seizures or choking and respiratory arrest. The doctor said viral meningitis could have been the cause.

But a Douglas County juvenile court judge found the state’s experts more credible and terminated the parental rights of the couple, named in the opinion only as Shinai S. and Jamison M.

The parents appealed, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals reversed the juvenile court’s order, saying the state had not proved it made reasonable efforts to prevent the breakup of a Native American family, as required under the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act.

State prosecutors appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court, arguing that reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify the family under the state’s Indian Child Welfare Act were not required because the parents had subjected Jamyia to “aggravated circumstances,” including chronic abuse.

The Court of Appeals reversed the lower ruling – something the state’s high court determined that it did not have jurisdiction to do, because the parents had not filed proper and timely appeals.

Even so, the Nebraska Supreme Court addressed the assignments of error listed by the parents, including those that said the juvenile court erred when it found that continuing custody of Jamyia would likely result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child and that there was sufficient evidence to establish grounds for parental termination.

The state’s high court rejected all of the parents’ arguments.

Messages seeking comment were left Friday for the attorneys of the parents and Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine.