Woman in Alabama Arrested After Loosing Baby in a Shooting

Manslaughter Charge Dropped Against Alabama Woman Who Was Shot While Pregnant

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• July three, 2019

Prosecutors in Alabama said on Wed that they were dropping a manslaughter charge confronting a woman over the death of the fetus she was carrying when she was shot in the abdomen, in a case that stirred national outrage.

The woman, Marshae Jones, was accused of beating up a co-worker who ultimately drew a gun and fired it, wounding Ms. Jones in the stomach and killing her five-month-old fetus. A grand jury in Jefferson Canton, convened by District Attorney Lynneice Washington, dismissed charges against the co-worker, saying she had acted in self-defense. But information technology indicted Ms. Jones for "initiating a fight knowing she was five months pregnant."

Under Alabama constabulary, a fetus is considered to take the same rights as a kid who has already been built-in. The grand jury sought to hold someone answerable for its death and Ms. Jones was arrested last calendar week. The charges against her quickly drew national attending.

On Wednesday, Ms. Washington, who had signed the indictment, said in a brief news conference that she had weighed the evidence and decided to dismiss the example.

"I have adamant that information technology is not in the best interest of justice to pursue prosecution of Ms. Jones on the manslaughter charge for which she was indicted past the grand jury," she told reporters. "No further legal activity will be taken against Ms. Jones in this matter."

The decision, a reversal, came subsequently her part was flooded with angry calls and letters most the injustice of arresting a woman who was shot, while assuasive the person who fired the weapon to walk gratis.

Ms. Jones's arrest came simply weeks after Alabama lawmakers passed a constabulary effectively banning abortion at any stage of pregnancy, fifty-fifty in cases of rape and incest. The state has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.

Reproductive rights activists saw Ms. Jones'south abort every bit an illustration of the legal ramifications of treating a fetus as a person in a court of law. Some as well said information technology was a cautionary tale of how pregnant women could be arrested and prosecuted in cases where they are seen to accept endangered the unborn. Alabama state constabulary recognizes a fetus at any phase of development as a person and potential victim for criminal homicide or assaults.

Ms. Washington, the first blackness female person district attorney in Alabama'due south history, appeared surprised and stung by the vehemence of the criticism, some of which centered on the notion that Ms. Jones, a working-grade black woman, was being treated in a manner that no wealthy white woman would have been. Over the weekend, Ms. Washington defended herself before a mostly black audition at a play in Birmingham, according to Al.com.

"There was a barrage of insults — desecration of my integrity, my character, my name," she was quoted every bit saying. "I am a black adult female in black skin. So, don't tell me how I don't appreciate the sensitivity of a adult female and the rights of women."

Moments afterwards news broke that Ms. Jones would not be prosecuted, lawyers from the firm White Arnold & Dowd, who had taken upward Ms. Jones'southward example, issued a argument: "We are gratified the commune attorney evaluated the affair and chose not to proceed with a example that was neither reasonable nor just."

Despite the angry national reaction, many in Alabama and Pleasant Grove, a city of x,000 people where the shooting occurred, defended the grand jury's decision, saying that they agreed with the laws protecting the unborn and that women who endanger them should face legal consequences. Simply the prosecutor'due south decision was welcomed by reproductive rights advocates in Birmingham.

[Read: Why many in Alabama defended the arrest of Ms. Jones.]

Shante Wolfe-Sisson, a founder of a health and wellness organisation called BLK Pearl, said the decision gave her hope for women's rights in Alabama, adding, "We could employ a lot of hope right now."

Both prosecutors and the law accept sought to altitude themselves from the charges in the wake of the national outcry. Police force officers in Pleasant Grove arrested Ms. Jones's co-worker, Ebony Jemison, afterward the Dec. 4 shooting, merely made statements to reporters that Ms. Jones was to arraign for the fight and that her deportment would be presented to the grand jury to decide whether she should be charged with a crime.

"When a five-month-pregnant woman initiates a fight and attacks some other person, I believe some responsibleness lies with her as to any injury to her unborn kid," Lt. Danny Reid of the Pleasant Grove Police Section said at the time. "That child is dependent on its female parent to attempt to proceed information technology from harm, and she shouldn't seek out unnecessary physical altercations."

Prototype

The actions of both women were presented to the thousand jury, using show from the police. Prosecutors were on paw at the time to answer the grand jury'south legal questions. The thou jury indicted Ms. Jones, and Ms. Washington signed the indictment in May.

On Wednesday, Ms. Washington said the decision not to move forward with the case was in no way a criticism of the grand jury. "The citizens took the prove presented them by the Pleasant Grove Police Department and fabricated what they believed to be a reasonable determination to indict Ms. Jones," she said.

She added that they had heard hundreds of cases in a thing of days. "The members of the 1000 jury took to heart that the life of an unborn child was violently concluded and believed someone should be held accountable. But in the interests of all concerned, nosotros are non prosecuting the case."

Valerie Hicks Powe, the master assistant district attorney, said it was non the first time that Ms. Washington had declined to bring a case to trial later a grand jury indictment.

"Information technology's non rare that the district attorney — non just this district chaser, simply whatever district attorney — uses discretion regarding cases that come off the grand jury," she said.

Several factors go into deciding whether to bring a example to trial, she said, including whether information technology is worth the resources, whether the facts support the charge, whether a jury is likely to convict, and whether a prosecution would serve "the crusade of justice."

Mark White, one of several lawyers who assembled a team to defend Ms. Jones, said she had flare-up into tears when she heard the news that she would not be prosecuted.

"She cried," he said. "We both cried. Then she said, 'Thank you.'"

Mr. White also said that investigators working with his constabulary firm had found on Wednesday morn a cellphone video of the fight, which showed Ms. Jones backing away at the time Ms. Jemison fired the gun.

"The investigators have been working around the clock," he said. "We also got all of her medical records. The video and the medical records 100 percent substantiate that she was in retreat when the woman shot her."

Mr. White's account contradicts an business relationship given by the police force, which indicated that witnesses had described Ms. Jemison being pinned inside her car, taking blows.

Ms. Powe said that neither the district chaser nor the grand jury saw the cellphone video, and that it was not a cistron in the decision to drop the case. She too expressed doubt about its contents.

Jenny Carroll, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Police force said that the prosecution of Ms. Jones was office of a dangerous trend in Alabama.

"You are opening up a Pandora's box of whenever a pregnant woman puts her fetus at any adventure, they tin can seek an indictment," Professor Carroll said. "A jury can ultimately say that the risk wasn't great plenty to captive, only in the meantime, this woman was arrested, she was put in jail."

The uproar over the indictment of Ms. Jones was not the first time that the application of Alabama's fetal-rights laws has attracted criticism and business organisation.

Alabama has prosecuted hundreds of women for using controlled substances while they are pregnant, under a 2006 "chemical endangerment" police, according to an investigation by ProPublica and Al.com. Doctors have argued that such prosecutions discourage meaning addicts from seeking the handling that they and their fetuses need.

Although many in Alabama felt Ms. Jones had acted irresponsibly and deserved to be punished for endangering her unborn baby, many in Pleasant Grove as well expressed sympathy for her loss and felt she deserved mercy. Kristina Poole, 34, a caregiver for the disabled and elderly, said prison house was non an advisable punishment for Ms. Jones.

"She lost a baby," she said. "She's been punished enough."

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/us/charges-dropped-alabama-woman-pregnant.html