PENNSYLVANIA State's fetal-homicide law gets successful use in court
A woman in Erie County was convicted recently under the statute.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
PITTSBURGH -- A federal fetal-homicide law to be considered by Congress in the wake of the Laci Peterson slaying would probably have a limited impact in Pennsylvania, where prosecutors have successfully applied a state law in two recent cases.
Pennsylvania is one of some two dozen states with fetal-homicide laws. Erie County prosecutors used the law earlier this year to convict a woman who beat her romantic rival and, according to a pathologist, caused the death of the rival's 15- to 17-week-old fetus.
The so-called "Laci and Conner's Law" is named after Peterson, whose body, along with that of her 8-month-old fetus, was found in San Francisco Bay last month. Her husband, Scott, is charged in the slayings.
Limits of law
The federal law could be applied only if the death took place on federal property, if the slaying was part of an interstate killing for hire, or if the death occurred while another federal crime was being committed.
A spokesman for Rep. Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, R-4th, the chief sponsor of the measure in the House, said it is hoped that a federal law will push all states to pass their own fetal-homicide laws.
Prosecutors and victims'-rights activists in Pennsylvania said the passage in 1997 of the state's fetal-homicide law was essential to help ease the pain experienced by families under such extraneous circumstances.
Abortion-rights concerns
Though the proposed federal law and existing state laws contain language that exempts abortion, abortion-rights activists have said the laws are an attempt to roll back reproductive rights. Staunch opposition doused previous attempts to pass similar federal laws in 2000 and 2001.
Prosecutors insist the state law is limited in scope.
"You have to really have a good set of facts in order to be successful under the law," said Jack Daneri, chief deputy district attorney of Erie County, who prosecuted the most recent case. "You have to be able to show the intent to harm the fetus."
Corinne Wilcott, 21, of Erie was convicted of third-degree murder in an attack on a woman who was impregnated by Wilcott's husband. The attack led to the death of the fetus, a pathologist testified.
In 2000, Kareem Sampson was convicted of two first-degree murder charges in Philadelphia for fatally shooting a pregnant friend of an ex-girlfriend.
In at least three other cases since 1999, juries rejected fetal-homicide charges or the charges were dropped.