Have you ever heard of a crime called, "Feticide?" Fortunately you do not hear it often. Police say Jessica Bruce led police on a high speed chase and ended when she crashed her car, totally the vehicle. The police spokes person said its very likely that she will be charged with Feticide, which is stems from he fetus dying as a result of her being a drunk driver at the time of the accident. The decision as to whether they will charge her rests with the results of the results of the toxicology tests and the autopsy.
The maximum penalty for Feticide in Georgia is 15 years in jail.
There are 24 states now that recognize a fetus as being a person. Under Georgia law, the age of the fetus has no bearing on the crime. The only requirement is that the fetus was alive just before the accident.
There are 24 states that give the fetus the status of a victim in laws that were specially written for cases in which a fetus dies as a result of a drunk driver. When prosecuting these cases, they still have to prove all of the elements of a normal DUI case. The evidence as it pertains to the fetus dying would be in addition to the standard Driving Under the Influence evidence. Georgia is the only state that has a law called, "Feticide by Vehicle."
In a few of the 24 states that recognize the status of a fetus as that of a person, the laws consider the age of the fetus at the time of the death. The difference in age affects the potential sentence. There are also seven states that have laws that can punish a person found responsible of a fetus dying all the way back to the time of conception. The other states require that the fetus be anywhere between 7 or 12 weeks.
There are five states that have laws whereby a person can be charged with murder from the death of a fetus while in what is called the, "quickening state," which is at 16-18 weeks. And, there is another three states where a person can be charged with murder when, and only when, the fetus is deemed viable. Those three states also require the fetus to be at least 28 weeks old, and capable of surviving outside the womb.
