NC Homicide Laws for death of an unborn child

I noticed many people are speaking up about the Laws in North Carolina, especially with the case of pregnant murdered women.

North Carolina does not have a homicide law for the death of an unborn child. This means when Janet's murderer is arrested and brought to trial, prosecutors can't charge him suspect with the death of her baby, this also goes for the Jennifer Nielsen's murderer.

The one law we were all excited about, in which President Bush signed in 2004 is the federal unborn victims bill, which was signed into law. This applies in federal crimes or federal lands such as national parks, tribal lands or military bases, which does not count in these two cases.

North Carolina does not have a homicide law for the death of an unborn child. That means if Jennifer Nielsen's killer is arrested and brought to trial, prosecutors can't charge the suspect with the death of her baby.

North Carolina Prosecutors Limited When Unborn Are Victims see story below:

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1529136/

http://www.nrlc.org/Whatsnew/sthomicidelaws.htm

States Without Unborn Victims Laws, Which Instead
Criminalize Certain Conduct That Terminates a Human Pregnancy Or That Causes a Miscarriage

Note: These laws are gravely deficient, because they do not recognize unborn children as victims, nor allow justice to be done on their behalf. These laws are included here for informational purposes.

Indiana: An individual who knowingly or intentionally "terminates a human pregnancy" commits feticide. Ind. Code Ann. ' 35-42-1-6 (Burns 1994 & Supp. 1998).

Iowa: An individual who intentionally "terminates a human pregnancy" without the consent of the pregnant woman commits a felony. This law also sets forth other crimes involving the termination of a human pregnancy, such as during the commission of a forcible felony. Iowa Code Ann. ' 707.8 (West Supp. 1999).

Kansas: Injury to a pregnant woman during the commission of a felony or misdemeanor which causes a miscarriage results in specific levels of offense severity. Kan. Stat. Ann. ' 21-3440 (1997). Also, injury to a pregnant woman through the operation of a motor vehicle which causes a miscarriage results in specific levels of offense severity. Kan. Stat. Ann. ' 21-3441 (1997).

New Hampshire: It is a felony to cause injury to another person that results in a miscarriage or stillbirth. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. '' 631:1-631:2 (1996).

New Mexico: It is a felony to injure a pregnant woman during the commission of a felony and cause her to undergo a miscarriage or stillbirth. N.M. Stat. Ann. ' 30-3-7 (Michie 1994). It is also a crime to injure a pregnant woman through the unlawful operation of a vehicle which causes her to undergo a miscarriage or stillbirth. N.M. Stat. Ann. '' 66-8-101.1 (Michie 1998).

North Carolina: It is a felony to injure a pregnant woman during the commission of a felony and cause her to undergo a miscarriage or stillbirth. It is a misdemeanor to cause a miscarriage or stillbirth during a misdemeanor act of domestic violence. N.C. Gen. Stat. ' 14-18.2 (Supp. 1998).

Virginia: The premeditated killing of a pregnant woman with the intent to cause the termination of her pregnancy is capital murder. Va. Code Ann. ' 18.2-31 (Michie Supp. 1998). The unpremeditated killing of a pregnant woman with the intent to cause the termination of her pregnancy is also a crime. Va. Code Ann. ' 18.2-32.1 (Michie Supp. 1998). It is a felony to injure a pregnant woman with the intent to maim or kill her or to terminate her pregnancy and she is injured or her pregnancy is terminated. Va. Code Ann. ' 18.2-51.2 (Michie Supp. 1998).

New York: Conflicting Statutes

New York: Under New York statutory law, the killing of an "unborn child" after twenty-four weeks of pregnancy is homicide. N.Y. Pen. Law ' 125.00 (McKinney 1998). But under a separate statutory provision, a "person" that is the victim of a homicide is statutorily defined as "a human being who has been born and is alive." N.Y. Pen. Law ' 125.05 (McKinney 1998). See People v. Joseph, 130 Misc. 2d 377, 496 N.Y.S.2d 328 (County Court 1985); In re Gloria C., 124 Misc.2d 313, 476 N.Y.S.2d 991 (N.Y. Fam. Ct. 1984); People v. Vercelletto, 514 N.Y.S.2d 177 (Co.Ct. 1987)

It's a misdemeanor......which totally is asinine. There's a man that stole a $100.00 that has been in jail for years, a felony, and Raven himself has been convicted of felonies (with a nice little slap on the wrist) but yet, under North Carolina rules:

It is a felony to injure a pregnant woman during the commission of a felony and cause her to undergo a miscarriage or stillbirth. It is a misdemeanor to cause a miscarriage or stillbirth during a misdemeanor act of domestic violence. N.C. Gen. Stat. ' 14-18.2 (Supp. 1998).

It states nothing about Murdering a pregnant woman which then causes the death of the unborn child.

Thank you goes to a friend of mine that did the research on this and is allowing me to take this information to share here:

There are two separate Bills out there at this time.

House Bill 263 First Edition is entitled Unborn Victims of Violence - to see it in full please visit:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/FiscalNotes/House/PDF/HIN0263v1.pdf

Senate Bill 295 - Bill to be entitled Short Title: Fetal Murder

Please visit to see in full:
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/Senate/HTML/S295v1.html

For those that may not know or do not remember how this works is this.

Example: Someone in the House puts forth a Bill. It must be approved by the House. If the House approves it it gets sent to the Senate for approval. It get's ratified and if required signed by the Governor.

Since both the House and the Senate made similar Bills is it one canceling out the other or does each one die out separately in their respective branches?

Every year or every other year a Bill like this is introduced in the House and separately in the Senate.

I decided to try to research also and my friend stated that the research she did shows that they die out somewhere but where and why she hasn't figured out yet. I have come to the same conclusion, it doesn't really show where these Bills peter out. Maybe someone here is better at this than us and can help us find out what's happening to all these Bills. Does the year run out with no decision and then they have to start all over again?

Examples of Bills that Petered out and no clue why:

House Bill dated April 24, 1991:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/1991/Bills/House/PDF/H1110v1.pdf

Here's the Senate's version

http://ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/1991/Bills/Senate/PDF/S648v1.pdf

There are similar bills in 2003 and 2005 that never made it in both the House and the Senate.

Does the fetus have to be of an age that they would be viable if born? I can't figure it out. Seems like if the Mom had lied, the fetus would have aged appropriately, so it should not matter. JMOO

I will be looking into other's state's Law regarding unborn fetus.

I'm not sure whether or not that comes into play and the wordings.

If Janet was not murdered, then she would have had her baby, unless something happened, miscarriage, etc.

The issue is that the person who decided his life was more important than Janet's and her unborn childs, took a way Janet's free will and took away the chance for the unborn fetus to be viable, under normal circumstances.
I think a lot of the issue is determining other facts. For example, drunk driver crashes into a woman who's carrying a child, will the drunk driver be liable for the loss of two lives, what if the woman lives and her unborn child dies as a result of a miscarriage? Would that be considered murder?

I see a lot of the issues at hand here, but what I'm not grasping is why the House and the Senate both year after year bring up these Bills and it doesn't seem that they get past their respective places. Both Bills on both ends are thought out, but why do they die before they become laws or in some cases before they get sent to the other for consideration.

In every case I've heard about, the fetus had to be viable in order for it to be considered a separate crime. It'd be interesting to know if that law differs in other states.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/632034.html

About 75 people, including several Republican lawmakers, attended a vigil in memory of a slain pregnant woman and her unborn son. The widower and the father of Jennifer Nielsen were among those participating in the event on Bicentennial Mall. Nielsen was eight months pregnant with her third son when she was found dead behind a Raleigh convenience store June 14. No arrests have been made. Rep. Trudi Walend, R-Transylvania, spoke at the vigil about a bill she cosponsored that would allow prosecutors to seek murder charges when a woman and her fetus are killed.