New Mexico ACLU Defending Man Who Killed Pregnant Girlfriend, Unborn Child
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 7, 2009
Santa Fe, NM (LifeNews.com) — The ACLU of New Mexico is defending a state resident charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child. Marino Leyba, Jr., stands accused of killing 17-year-old Sarah Lovato, her father and Lovato’s nine-month-old unborn child.
Leyba reportedly shot Lovato twice in the back and once in the stomach and prosecutors say he purposefully targeted the unborn baby, whom the couple planned to name Isaac.
After killing her partner and her unborn baby, Leyba, a security guard who was off duty at the time, turned his gun on Bennie Lovato, Sr., 50, and shot him three times.
Although the baby died, Lovato can’t be held accountable for killing the child because New Mexico is not one of the 35 states that has an unborn victims law in place allowing prosecutors to charge criminals with an additional crime when they kill or injure an unborn baby in addition to attacking his mother.
Leyba later admitted to his father that he shot Sarah Lovato, the baby, and her father
Now, Gary C. Mitchell of Ruidoso, the president of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, will be representing Leyba as he attempts to avoid prosecution by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
After the killing, state Rep. Larry Larrañaga, an Albuquerque Republican, said he planned to ask Gov. Bill Richardson to allow a debate on an unborn victims bill.
Larrañaga also introduced such a bill in 2005 but it was attacked by abortion advocates who do not want to acknowledge that unborn children can be victims of violent crimes.
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