Another New York Man Kills Pregnant Girlfriend Who Refused Abortion

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 18, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 18
, 2007

Queens, NY (LifeNews.com) — Another New York man is in court over killing his pregnant girlfriend because she refused to have an abortion. One month after Ryan Ross, of Spring Valley, was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison in his case, Steven Schiovone of Levittown plead guilty to his own charges.

During the middle of the trial, Schiovone, 37, plead guilty to manslaughter and he is now expected to get 30 years in prison for the 2005 death of Susan Ambrosino.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown sent out a press release about the case and said the plea came "moments before prosecutors were about to give their opening statement … charging that the defendant shot and killed the 26-year-old woman to prevent her from telling his brother, her ex-husband, that she was pregnant with the defendant’s baby."

Police found Ambrosino’s body in the truck of an abandoned car in February 2005.

According to a Newsday story, Ambrosino’s brother, Anthony Napolitano, indicated that Schiovone wanted her to have an abortion — something she refused to do.

"We believe it was this love of life, of her refusal to get an abortion, that compelled her killer" to shoot her, Napolitano told the news outlet.

Had he not plead guilty, Schiovone could have faced anywhere from 25 years to life in prison.

The case follows the conviction of Ross, a 23 year-old who was not held accountable for the death of the girl’s unborn child because New York has a conflicting unborn victims law.

He accused Karesse Ebron of being pregnant with his child and asked her to have an abortion.

She declined, so Ross drove her to an isolated area across from a park to talk. When Ebron got out of the car, he hit her numerous times over the head with a baseball bat. He left her body nearby and covered it with leaves to cover up his tracks.

However, police found Ross’ name and number in Ebron’s phone and Ross eventually admitted to killing the 16 year-old Ebron and plead guilty in the case.

Judge Catherine Bartlett told Ross that killing Ebron because she wouldn’t have an abortion "makes no sense … and was hard to believe."

"Your attitude, this court believes, is life is cheap," Bartlett said, according to the Journal News. "That makes you a dangerous human being."

Ebron’s mother, Sharene McCullough, told the court in comments during the sentencing that "Karesse did not have a chance to fight back at all for her life because he … beat her over and over in the head with a bat because he was a cold-hearted and cowardly person."

McCullough said Ross "not only robbed Karesse from me, but he also robbed Karesse from her father, her brothers, her grandparents."

Ross was not charged with killing Ebron’s baby because a "person" that is the victim of a homicide is statutorily defined as a "human being who has been born and is alive."

Under New York statutory law, the killing of an "unborn child" after twenty-four weeks of pregnancy is homicide, but that provision appears to conflict with the homicide statues.

Some 34 other states have laws that charge criminals like Ross twice for both the death of the unborn child as well as death of the mother.