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3/3/2013 9:30:15 PM
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If a pregnant woman attempts suicide and the fetus dies...

[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/03/bei-bei-shuai-trial-baby-photos-banned-courtroom_n_2800868.html?utm_hp_ref=crime]...should she be charged with murder?[/url] [quote]Bei Bei Shuai was hospitalized after she attempted suicide by eating rat poison on Dec. 23, 2010, when she was eight months pregnant. Doctors delivered her daughter, Angel Shuai, on Dec. 31 and the infant died three days later. Prosecutors arrested Bei Bei Shuai on charges of murder and feticide in March 2011, saying a note she left to her former boyfriend proved that Shuai intended to kill her baby when she ate the rat poison. But Judge Sheila Carlisle ruled in January that the doctor who determined the poison caused the baby's death hadn't considered other possible causes, including a drug administered to Shuai while she was in the hospital. That effectively deprived prosecutors of the cause of death on which their case rested. Prosecutors said earlier this week they wouldn't appeal Carlisle's ruling, and their next step was unclear.[/quote] So if a pregnant woman attempts suicide and fails, but her baby dies, should she be charged with murder? I, for one, don't think so. There's no law against suicide in Indiana (contrary to popular belief, suicide generally isn't against the law in the U.S.). In general, if I kill someone while doing something legal, I can't be charged with murder. I don't see why it's different in this case.

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  • Edited by Diplomat: 3/4/2013 1:13:37 AM
    Oh yes, OP, doing something legal that results in the death of the person doesn't necessarily result in escape from a prison sentence. If you do something legal, with the knowledge the action would kill someone, then you are technically guilty of murder or manslaughter. For example, there is no law preventing me from setting myself on fire. However, if I do it in such a manner that results in the deaths of others (and I knew that it would), I am still guilty of murder. Of course, I'd be dead, so it wouldn't matter. But it's applicable nonetheless.

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