Kentucky Man The Second Convicted Under State’s Unborn Victims Law
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 1, 2006
Louisville, KY (LifeNews.com) — A Kentucky man is the second to be convicted under a state unborn victims law that protect pregnant women and their babies before birth. Like those of dozens of other states, the law allows prosecutors to charge criminals with a second crime when a baby is killed or injured in the court of an attack on her mother.
Kenton County prosecutors secured the first conviction when Dwayne Dishman pleaded guilty Tuesday to fourth-degree fetal homicide.
Dishman is accused of killing his girlfriend’s unborn child after he has a physical fight with her on June 25. Three days after the incident, she went to the hospital and had a miscarriage.
That’s the equivalent to reckless homicide for those already born, according to a Cincinnati Post report.
John Meier, Dishman’s public defender, said he plead guilty because he was worried that a jury of northern Kentucky residents, who are particularly pro-life, would get the full sentence if he didn’t plea bargain.
As a result of the plea, the Post reports, Kenton Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Christy Muncy will suggest to the judge that Dishman, who is 23 year-old, should serve five years on probation.
Doctors said the fight caused the miscarriage but Meier said he would have contested that at trial and indicated the woman had problem pregnancies, including a miscarriage, in the past.
He told the Post that Dishman plead guilty because he had already been in jail for four months and didn’t want to spend more time there.
Eric Adam Trask, a 19 year-old, was the first Kentucky resident to be charged under the law. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail after admitting he beat his girlfriend so severely that it caused her to have a miscarriage.
According to the National Right to Life Committee, 34 states currently have unborn victims laws. Some 24 states protect pregnant women and their babies throughout pregnancy while 10 offer protection only in the latter parts.
Related web sites:
National Right to Life – https://www.nrlc.org
