*Marshae Jones, the Alabama woman charged in the death of her fetus after she was shot in the stomach, can breathe easier because an Alabama prosecutor says she won’t prosecute Jones.
“There are no winners in this case, only losers in the sad ordeal,” Jefferson County District Attorney Lynneice Washington said at a press conference.
However, Jones was indicted for manslaughter by a Jefferson County grand jury Wednesday.
Jones did not fire the shots that killed her unborn child; however, authorities said she started the fight that eventually led to the gunfire, reports Idaho News.
The shooting happened on December 4, 2018, outside a Dollar General store on Park Road in Birmingham, AL.
Here’s MORE via The Daily Beast:
The announcement was the latest development in a case that has re-ignited debate over fetal personhood laws, which grant fetuses the same rights as all other citizens. Alabama is one of 38 states that allow fetuses to be classified as victims in homicides or assaults, and a recent constitutional amendment makes it state policy to “recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children.”
Women’s rights groups argue these laws only serve to criminalize any woman who loses her pregnancy, no matter the circumstance.
Jones, 28, was five months pregnant when coworker Ebony Jamison allegedly shot her in the stomach during an argument in the parking lot of a local Dollar Tree in December. She suffered a miscarriage soon after. Police at the time said the fight was over a male coworker, and that Jones initiated the dispute and Jamison shot her in self-defense.
Police initially charged Jamison with manslaughter, but a grand jury declined to indict her and indicted Jones instead. The panel ruled that Jones, who has no criminal record, had intentionally caused the death of her unborn child by initiating the fight “knowing she was five months pregnant.”
Jones’ attorneys pushed back, arguing that Alabama law does not allow for the prosecution of a woman for manslaughter in relation to her unborn child. They contend the state had illegally expanded criminal statutes by creating a new crime of “transferred intent manslaughter” in order to charge their client.
“The bottom line is that the doctrine of transferred intent is not applicable to a charge of manslaughter and has never been recognized as such by Alabama statutory or case law,” they said in a motion filed Monday.
“Furthermore,” they added, “it defies reason and logic to believe that Ms. Jones should have known that Ms. Jemison would use deadly physical force against her and thereby cause the death of her unborn child.”
Like the DA above said, “There are no winners in this case, only losers.”
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