Woman Says She Fought Attacker, Tried to Protect Unborn Baby
"A woman whose baby was cut from her womb by someone she just met testified Wednesday that she told herself she had to survive for the sake of her unborn daughter and tried to fight back.
But Michelle Wilkins said Dynel Lane continued to choke and beat her in the March 18, 2015, attack, and she eventually lost consciousness. When she came to, she said, she was bleeding profusely from her abdomen and made a desperate call to 911.
Wilkins' child didn't survive something Wilkins learned the next day in the hospital. Lane was charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
The case revived debate over the legal rights of fetuses and brought calls for a murder charge, which prosecutors said they couldn't file because a coroner found no evidence the fetus lived outside the womb. Testimony in the trial began Wednesday and is expected to continue into next week...."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trial-opens-colorado-woman-case-baby-cut-womb-36992685
WS thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...tus-cut-from-womb-died-Longmont-18-March-2015
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Mom Facing Murder Charge a Decade After Son Was Last Seen
"A Virginia woman whose son's remains were found in her car more than 10 years after he was last seen alive is now facing a murder charge.
Court documents indicate Tonya Slaton, 44, of Richmond was indicted Feb. 1 in Hampton Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of her son, Quincy Jamar Davis, who would now be 25.
Davis attended elementary and middle school in Virginia Beach, but media outlets report that friends didn't see him after seventh grade and he was withdrawn from school in 2003, when he would have entered eighth grade.
Media outlets report that the indictment alleges Slaton killed Davis between July 24, 2004, and July 24, 2005, when he was 14 or 15 years old. Davis was never reported missing, but his body was found in Slaton's trunk during a traffic stop in June. The medical examiner hasn't determined the cause of his death..."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mom-indicted-sons-remains-found-car-10-years-36989308
WS thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-seen-2004-remains-found-in-mother-s-car-2015
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While 'Affluenza' Teen Went Free, Similar Case Led to Prison
"One 16-year-old drove drunk, ran a red light and crashed into a pregnant woman's car, killing her and her unborn child. Another drunken teenager rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people assisting a stranded driver, killing four.
Jaime Arellano went to prison. Ethan Couch went free.
The stories of the two Texas teens illustrate how prosecutors' decisions in similar cases can lead to wildly different outcomes. The poor immigrant from Mexico has been behind bars for almost a decade. The white kid with rich parents got 10 years of probation...
In the juvenile system, intoxication manslaughter cases in Texas over the last decade were just as likely to result in probation as they are detention, according to figures from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Juvenile justice experts say the state's juvenile system places more weight on rehabilitation than the adult system, where punishments are tougher.
Since 2005, Texas has prosecuted 38 juveniles for intoxication manslaughter or intoxication assault. Only three were sent to the adult system, and half of all cases resulted in probation of some kind...
Once juveniles are in detention, it's more likely than not that they will go free when they turn 19. Only 33 percent of all juvenile offenders are sent to adult prison, according to a study of juvenile sentencing conducted by the University of North Texas professor Chad Trulson.
Trulson said a probation sentence for killing four people might seem "absurd" to the average person.
But in the juvenile system, he said, that type of sentence for intoxication manslaughter and potentially more serious offenses "is probably more typical than we would think.".."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/affluenza-teen-free-similar-case-led-prison-36949150
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