Criminal Law: Manslaughter – Unborn Child – UDDA

(1)Where a defendant, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after an accident in which he was driving drunk and his pregnant girlfriend was killed, claimed that the state did not prove that the girlfriend was pregnant, evidence that the mother had tested positive for pregnancy and an obstetrician had performed a positive ultrasound was sufficient to prove she was pregnant 10 days later when the accident occurred.

(2)Where a defendant, whose pregnant girlfriend was killed when he had a drunk driving accident, challenged his involuntary manslaughter conviction for the death of the fetus based on a definition from the Uniform Determination of Death Act, which says that fetal respiration could not cease if it did not begin, Missouri statutes hold that an unborn child can be a victim of involuntary manslaughter, and the UDDA was adopted earlier to deal with different concerns, so the conviction is affirmed.

Judgment is affirmed.

State v. Harrison (MLW No. 64651/Case No. SD31374 – 5 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Scott, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Laclede County, Moore, J. (Karen Louise Kramer, Jefferson City, for respondent) (Fawzy T. Simon, Lebanon, for appellant).

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