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Thread: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

  1. #1
    Maple SERP savafan's Avatar
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    boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050104/detu007_1.html

    MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith authorized criminal charges today against a sixteen-year-old Richmond male accused of terminating his girlfriend's pregnancy with a souvenir baseball bat.

    The charge, Intentional conduct against a pregnant individual resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth, is a felony punishable by up to fifteen years imprisonment.

    According to Michigan State Police detectives, the youths intentionally caused the death of the fetus by striking the mother's abdomen with the twenty-two inch bat over the course of two weeks. The parents of the youths were apparently unaware of the pregnancy and the decision to abort it.

    The actions of the youths first came to light when the female spoke about the series of incidents after the fact at a high school leadership conference in the upper peninsula. The conference's adult facilitator, hearing of the incidents leading to the miscarriage, contacted the State Police.

    The report of the county's medical examiner indicates that the fetus was premature and not viable at the time of the miscarriage. The report lists the cause of death as blunt impact of the maternal abdomen.

    Prosecutor Smith is relying on law created by the Michigan Legislature in 1999. According to that law, only the person making the intentional conduct against the pregnant individual is criminally liable. The pregnant individual herself, however complicit in the termination, is not.

    The male, because of his age and lack of prior contacts with the criminal justice system, will be adjudicated in the juvenile court. If convicted, he would be subject to the jurisdiction of that court until he is twenty-one years old.

    The mother, also sixteen years old, will not be charged with a crime.

    Prosecutor Smith said the defendant must plead guilty as charged or face trial.

    "This crime is shocking and reprehensible," he said. "I will not entertain any plea bargaining on it."
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  3. #2
    Member Cedric's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    But if the mom walked about a mile she could probably get it done for free. I don't get some things in life.

  4. #3
    The Lineups stink. KronoRed's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    The mom won't be charged?

    Sick.
    Go Gators!

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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Tragic news.

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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    RBA, it is tragic.

    However, (not directed at you RBA, but anyone) at the risk of stating the obvious, I'm not sure how this boy can be charged with a crime based on our current legal view of this issue. Beat with a bat, sucked out with a vaccuum, or whatever the method used, what makes the difference? They both made the choice, I might add. Could someone please attempt to reconcile this for me?
    "Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"

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    Member Red Heeler's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Quote Originally Posted by traderumor
    RBA, it is tragic.

    However, (not directed at you RBA, but anyone) at the risk of stating the obvious, I'm not sure how this boy can be charged with a crime based on our current legal view of this issue. Beat with a bat, sucked out with a vaccuum, or whatever the method used, what makes the difference? They both made the choice, I might add. Could someone please attempt to reconcile this for me?
    Um, by that argument getting whacked in the mouth with a baseball bat would be the same as dentistry. Being eviscerated by a switchblade would be surgery.

    If you cannot see the difference between an act of violence committed by a thug and a medical procedure performed by a physician, I don't really know what to say.

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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Quote Originally Posted by Red Heeler
    Um, by that argument getting whacked in the mouth with a baseball bat would be the same as dentistry. Being eviscerated by a switchblade would be surgery.

    If you cannot see the difference between an act of violence committed by a thug and a medical procedure performed by a physician, I don't really know what to say.
    Completely agree.

  9. #8
    Member traderumor's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    If you cannot see the difference between an act of violence committed by a thug and a medical procedure performed by a physician, I don't really know what to say.
    Not reconciled yet. First, "medical procedure" might make you feel better about what goes on in an abortion, but it doesn't settle my soul any. Interesting you see one party as a "thug" while I'm sure you would consider an abortionist an upstanding citizen. I guess I ponder the same, that if you can't see the act of violence performed by an abortionist, I don't really know what to say.
    "Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"

  10. #9
    Member traderumor's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    BTW,

    I'm gonna make my last post the end of my thoughts on this matter. I just want to listen to explanations of the difference. At a philosophical level, I cannot see the difference. But I know if I get too far into this discussion folks will get mad at me.
    "Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"

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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    I wonder what education and values these two were taught. Did they attend Public or Private school? Were they ever informed of their options?

  12. #11
    Member Red Heeler's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Quote Originally Posted by traderumor
    BTW,

    I'm gonna make my last post the end of my thoughts on this matter. I just want to listen to explanations of the difference. At a philosophical level, I cannot see the difference. But I know if I get too far into this discussion folks will get mad at me.
    I suppose that if you see any termination of a pregnancy as murder then there really isn't any difference. However, several abortion techniques are approved by the American Medical Association. Obviously, whacking the woman in the midsection with a baseball bat is not among the approved techniques.

    Another example might help to show the distiction as I see it. Castration of a male cat is now performed under general anesthesia. In times gone by, the cat was fully awake, he just had his front end stuffed inside a boot to restrain him while the castration was taking place. I'm sure that some in PETA would argue that castrating a cat is wrong, so the technique doesn't matter. I can clearly distinguish between which one is animal cruelty and which is an acceptable medical technique.

    I, personally, do not have a strong objection to the termination of a pregnancy before the fetus would be able to survive on its own. I do think that there should be a lot more counciling available as to alternatives, though. I would also like to see a huge increase in sex education (including abstinence) beginning at a much earlier age. However, I still think that abortion should be available as a last resort for those who choose it.

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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Here's an updated story...

    Teen boy charged in abortion

    He faces 15-year felony, but girlfriend avoids charges in alleged baseball bat beating
    PUBLISHED: January 5, 2005

    By Chad Halcom
    Macomb Daily Staff Writer

    A 16-year-old Richmond Township man may appear before a juvenile court referee on a felony charge as early as today, after prosecutors authorized charges in a bizarre abortion-by-baseball bat incident with his girlfriend last fall.
    In a case that promises to challenge some fundamental Michigan laws and opinions about abortion and assault, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith on Tuesday authorized a 15-year felony charge of intentional conduct against a pregnant individual causing miscarriage or stillbirth.

    Court officials had notified his attorney and family of the decision by the time the school day had concluded at Armada High School, and attorneys on both sides are still working out a time for him to appear on a juvenile appearance hearing similar to arraignment.

    Because of his age and lack of any prior criminal record, prosecutors elected not to charge him as an adult and his name is being withheld by The Macomb Daily.

    "I can only enforce the law as written, aside from my feelings," Smith said of the decision to charge the male, but not the female, for a series of beatings where the two were trying to end her 6-month pregnancy. "The law as it's written specifically states that the pregnant mother is excluded from prosecution in these cases."

    Michigan State Police investigating the case have said the young couple sought options to end her pregnancy last fall, but could not obtain an abortion under Michigan law without consent from one of her parents. That apparently led to a series of secret sessions over a 2-week period where the male beat the female's abdomen with a 22-inch souvenir-style bat until she bled and expelled the fetus in October. The fetus was discovered buried in Richmond Township in November.

    Afterward, the mother of the male teen and perhaps one other parent of the young couple were involved in a backyard burial of the fetus. Officials only became aware of it when the girl mentioned the events while attending a student leadership conference in the Upper Peninsula; the conference facilitator notified state police.

    "Both the mothers were involved afterward. But the problem was, if the fetus or the child was viable, it would be unlawful disposal of a body. But if isn't viable, then what they buried isn't technically a body," Smith explained.

    "The moral and ethical conduct here is disappointing to say the least, and the actions the students and the families chose to take is enough to make me sick."

    Macomb County forensic pathologist Daniel Spitz said Tuesday he determined the fetus was roughly 25 weeks along in development at the time of death, "give or take a period" of several days. Michigan law generally prohibits abortion after the 24th week of pregnancy without a significant health concern at play, but Spitz still said he felt the fetus wasn't viable at the time of delivery or miscarriage.

    "Viability is not a cut-and-dried kind of thing. Have there been fetuses delivered this early that lived? Sure, that's happened," he said. "But it's more like a percentage and a likelihood, and the fact is not many at this age survive without some heroic amount of efforts to save it."

    Spitz said he determined that the cause of death was premature delivery caused by blunt force trauma to the mother's stomach "based on the totality of evidence and what we know" about the abortion. But he said no bruising or trauma to the fetus' body itself could be found and wouldn't occur without severe damage to the mother's body as well.

    A medical examination and a toxicology screening for drugs or medication also were unable to determine any other possible cause of death.

    "Toxicology was essentially a complete negative," he said. "There was nothing of any significance found that would have been a factor."

    Smith and Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Patrick Young both indicated that each of the teens has confessed during questioning to working together on the abortion, and there appear to be no holes or flaws in their story. Young said he expected an arrangement with the boy's family and attorney to turn himself in within the next week or two.

    "He has already come in for (finger)printing, and the process is kind of like an arrest," he said. "Now his parents are being notified about coming in to appear in court."

    Smith said no plea bargains or lesser crimes are under consideration, and the male teen can expect either to plead guilty as charged or face a trial. If a trial does take place, Smith said, the female teen can expect to be a witness in the case and police have a record of her admissions in the investigation.

    Prosecutors are applying a section of the state's 1999 Prenatal Protection Act to prosecute the teen -- the same act used to charge former attorney Michael J. Fletcher with assault on a pregnant woman causing miscarriage in the August 1999 shooting death of his pregnant wife, Leann. But that charge was dismissed from the case in 2000 after an Oakland County judge found insufficient medical evidence to sustain it.

    Miranda Massie, a defense attorney retained by the family in the case, said Tuesday she was surprised by the decision to charge the young man and there will be several legal challenges ahead.

    Massie specializes in civil rights-based cases, and was previously an attorney in Macomb County for Tabitha Larkin in a 1997 assault case that stemmed from a racially charged melee in Sterling Heights.

    "The prosecutor is not making the best use of his discretion in choosing to charge this case. It's no way to address the problem of teen pregnancy, and it's no way to address the tragic outcome of this situation," Massie said. "It's a true exercise of wasting resources of the county taxpayers to choose to go forward with this case."
    Click here to return to story:
    http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/0...abort001.shtml

  14. #13
    Churlish Johnny Footstool's Avatar
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    Re: boyfriend charged in death of fetus

    Michigan State Police investigating the case have said the young couple sought options to end her pregnancy last fall, but could not obtain an abortion under Michigan law without consent from one of her parents.
    Afterward, the mother of the male teen and perhaps one other parent of the young couple were involved in a backyard burial of the fetus.
    They must have told the mothers that the fetus was miscarried.
    "I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful


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