Alabama jails pregnant woman for crime of getting shot by somebody else.

[DetlefK]

https://jezebel.com/alabama-woman-indicted-after-someone-else-shoots-her-in-1835892341

Initially, police charged 23-year-old Ebony Jemison for shooting 27-year-old Marshae Jones in December of 2018 outside a Dollar General in Birmingham. But according to AL.com, a police investigation determined that it wasn’t Jemison who was to blame for the shooting—it was Jones, for starting it:

“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,’’ Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting. “It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.”

That is the same Alabama that gives parental-visitation rights to child-rapists but not to child-abusers.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212195453

[rusty quoin]

1. That's incredible. It is the inverse of reality.

[stopdiggin]

2. claiming she is NOT a victim

I won't argue AL legal failings, but the article lays out pretty well why this woman landed in this situation.
The whole thing hinges on the presumption that the woman was not a "victim." She was a participant (actually the perpetrator and aggressor) in a crime that resulted in her unborn's (or fetus') death. The legal rationale is solid, if a bit strained. If she had driven drunk, or participated in a robbery with the same result people would easily grasp the logic. (FYI -- I reject out of hand any legal construction involving "fetal injury" or "fetal rights" -- but I'm losing that argument right now)

[DetlefK]

3. Okay, let's reframe the situation as if the fetus were a person in that fight:

Person A starts a fight.
Person B shoots at person A in self-defense, accidently killing Person C.
Person A gets arrested for the death of Person C because she initiated the chain of events that ended with B accidently shooting C.
Person B walks away free.

[stopdiggin]

4. that seems pretty much the case

Actually .. in stand your ground states (I frankly don't know where AL stands here), I think your scenario is essentially right. It seems pretty obvious that the jury (Grand Jury?) saw things in that light.

[DetlefK]

5. But how come person B is considered less at fault than person A???

It was person B's decision to draw a gun.
It was person B's decision to fire a gun.
It was person B's fault that she missed person A and shot C instead.

[stopdiggin]

7. this MUST be some kind of stand your ground thing

Last edited Thu Jun 27, 2019, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)

Right to defend. (hey, I'm with ya', if it's me, she's facing some kind of charges. discharging. reckless endanger. assault. it's the peckerheads that decided this woman was blameless.)

Late edit: according to the WaPost,
"Jemison was charged with manslaughter, but a grand jury failed to indict her, and the charge was dismissed"

[stopdiggin]

6. is everyone licensed to carry?

or is this another thing that the jury looked away on? your police lieutenant Reid sounds like a real peckerhead (a species that is NOT unique to AL) .. but he wasn't the one that made the charging decisions. at least it doesn't work that way in most jurisdictions.