ANSWERS: 17
  • i say life in the most brutal Prison you can find I know Folsom inmates would make an example of this guy no matter what race he is
  • Should there be criminal charges? You are kidding right? The baby is dead. Someone pushed someone down the stairs.
  • Murder? You're kidding, right? She's fine and all that was lost was a clump of cells. Simple assault is the proper charge.
  • Well it -is- assult. The woman was pushed down the stairs. Whether or not she's fine is really besides the point. There wouldn't be a murder charge. Man slaughter might be able to be argued... maybe.
  • Same as if they'd killed a baby and attacked a woman... because they did.
  • In every US State, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, the perpetrator would be charged with First Degree Murder - even if the woman was his target and he did not intend to kill her, his assault on the woman is a felony which would make the death of the child (even though not yet born) Murder 1 under the Felony Murder Rule. Though, if he's got a decent lawyer, he could probably plea it down to Murder 2 or Manslaughter. Over the last 30 years, many people have been charged, convicted, and sentenced for Murder 1, Murder 2, and Manslaughter for just such situations, i.e., where their criminal or negligent actions resulted in the death of a child-in-utero. As for comparison to current legal position on Abortion in the US - the Supreme Court never declared a foetus to NOT be a person; it declared that state laws banning abortion violated a woman's right to privacy. In the case described in the question, there is no privacy issue at stake. (The idea is that while a woman cannot legally be prevented from terminating her own pregnancy, if anyone else causes it to be terminated without her express and prior consent, it counts as homicide.)
  • See Scot Peterson rotting away and breathe a sigh of relief. That fetus put him on death row.
  • If she's fine, maybe misdemeanor assault. That's all. She can take him/her to civil court if she wants, but somebody who would do that probably doesn't have any money to collect.
  • Over 20 weeks gestation is what they call 'viable', i.e. a baby that would survive outside of the womb. So yes, after 20 weeks, intentional pushing = assault (or attempted murder of the woman if she was pushed down a flight of stairs) and murder of the foetus. Not a clump of cells; an aware human infant with a beating heart, lungs, the works.
  • No I don't think there should be. Maybe assault for pushing the woman down the stairs in the first place. But yeah. +5
  • In a court of law, if you kill a unborn baby you can and probably will be charged with murder of that unborn child. It is only the mother who is allowed to murder that baby. Don't you know that? -- You should be charged with assault on the mother and homicide on the unborn baby or at least manslaughter.
  • If the baby was completely healthy up to the point of the intentional act, then the aggresor is guilty of a homicide. this is strictly up to the investigators findings and presented to the local District Attorney for prosecution. Someone has to speak for the dead baby. this is why we have the police.
  • The irony of the Scott Peterson case is that he is on death row for killing his wife and his unborn son but if his wife had decided to abort the baby at exactly the same point in time there is no crime at all and it would probably be paid for by tax payer money...go figure.
  • She's fine physically, but mentally... I think it depends on what motivated him to push her of the stairs. Maybe his intention was to kill the baby. It also depends on what his or her relation is to the woman. All these things have to be investigated, based on this little information mentioned above no one could make a proper judgement. Assault he will defenitely get and depending on the rest court would decide whether he was attacking her only or her and the baby.
  • I think there should be a charge of assault on the person who pushed the woman and charges of vandalism on the attacker because of what happened to her property ( the fetus ).
  • aggravated assault
  • Both, assult and homicide.

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