ST. PAUL (AP) — A Maplewood man was charged with second-degree murder on Tuesday in the death of his girlfriend's unborn child, marking a rare use of a state law that allows such a murder charge even when the mother survives an assault.
(...)
Scott was charged in Ramsey County with murder of an unborn child in the second degree, plus third-degree assault.
According to the complaint, the security video shows that both Scott and the victim got on an elevator at building just after 7 a.m. Sunday. ``Mr. Scott smirks at the camera and displays his middle index finger extended and points at the camera,' the complaint said.
Scott them began assaulting the victim, the complaint said. ``For 20 seconds he continually punches and kicks Ms. Ceisel until she appears to be knocked unconscious. Mr. Scott can be seen dragging Ms. Ceisel's limp body off the elevator by one arm.'
About a minute later, the complaint said, Scott reappeared in the elevator and began cleaning her blood off the walls.
(...)
Cases of murder of an unborn child are rare in Minnesota, particularly when the mother survives, said Peter Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. Only a handful of states have such laws on the books, and almost all were promoted by anti-abortion groups to raise the question of when life begins, he said.
Minnesota laws are not framed around the fetus's viability — all pregnancies terminated as a result of another felony count.
Gaertner said the law acknowledges there's a second victim in such acts of violence against women and the vulnerability of pregnancy.
``Essentially, two lives are at stake,' she said. ``And the violence is that much more heinous in the eyes of the law.'
source.
Conservative MP Leon Benoit attempted to pass an unborn victims of crime bill in 2006,as there is no fetal rights legislation in Canada, at present. But his efforts were stopped by the intervention of Justice Minister Vic Toews, who said the bill would violate the Charter. However, the bill was drawn up by the House of Commons legal team who know Charter cases inside out.
If this crime had happened in Canada, the man in question would only have been charged with assault. Granted, the judge would have taken the miscarriage into account in sentencing the culprit, but pinning the killing of a member of one's family as an "aggravating factor", and not as a separate crime does not honour the place of the unborn child in the family, and the sentiments mothers hold towards their unborn children.
It really should be a separate crime.
