CASES OF UNBORN CHILDREN HOMICIDE
Federal and Military Jurisdiction
(Note: The following true cases illustrate the
need for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, recognizing the unborn
child as a victim in cases like these.)
A Schofield Barracks soldier Sergeant Timothy Ward, was convicted of
premeditated murder in the death of his wife
Bianca Ward, 26, who was in the latter stages of
pregnancy. Her unborn child did not survive. The
cause of death is listed as severe head trauma.
Sergeant Ward faced no liabilities for the harm
done to the unborn child.
Ruth Croston was five months pregnant on April 21, 1998, when she was killed
by her estranged husband, Reginald Anthony Falice at a Charlotte, N.C.,
intersection as she sat in her car. She and her unborn daughter died after being
shot at least five times by Falice, who had been living in Atlanta. He was
prosecuted in Federal court for interstate domestic violence and using a firearm
in the commission of a violent crime. No charges were brought for the killing of
the unborn baby girl.
On September 12, 1996, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Airman Gregory Robbins
assaulted his wife, Karlene who was eight months pregnant with their daughter,
Jasmine. He covered his fist with a t-shirt and repeatedly struck her in the
face and abdomen. Due to the assault. Karlene's uterus ruptured and expelled
Jasmine into the abdominal cavity and she died. The Air Force prosecutor
assimilated charges from an Ohio statute which makes it a crime to kill unborn
child and he pled guilty to assault and battery upon his pregnant wife and
involuntary manslaughter for the death of Jasmine.
On April 19, 1995, Carrie Lenz, a Drug Enforcement Agency secretary, was
showing coworkers ultrasound pictures of her unborn child at six months when the
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a bomb. Just the day
before the horrific bombing, she and her husband learned by the ultrasound that
they were having a boy and named him Michael James Lenz III.
On January 1, 1999, Deanna Mitts, who was eight months pregnant returned home
with her 3 year old daughter after celebrating Now Year's with her parents.
Shortly after entering her Connellsville, PA apartment, Mitts, her daughter
Kayla, and her unborn child were killed in an explosion from a bomb. Almost a
year later, Joseph Minerd, the presumed father of the unborn child was arrested
for Deanna and Kayla's murders, but is not being held criminally liable for the
harm caused to the unborn child. He is awaiting his trial in federal court.
On December 3, 1997, Tammy Lynn Baker was near term with her unborn child
when a bomb exploded outside her apartment killing her and her unborn child.
Nearly 3 years later, Coleman Johnson, the unborn child's father was arrested on
federal explosives charges for the death of Ms. Baker and is awaiting trial. His
charges do not include the murder of his unborn child.
Monica Smith was a secretary who was pregnant when she was killed in the
World Trade Center bombing in New York on February 26,1993. Her unborn child was
not among the six listed victims of the explosion.
