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Top Court Rejects Baby Death Conviction Appeal
(2003-10-06)

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal by a South Carolina woman convicted of homicide and sentenced to 12 years in prison for causing her baby to be stillborn by using cocaine.

The high court refused to review an appeal by Regina McKnight who challenged the constitutionality of the South Carolina law and argued her sentence amounted to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

McKnight, a cocaine addict, gave birth in 1999 to a stillborn, 5-pound baby girl. Her pregnancy was estimated to have lasted between 34 and 37 weeks. McKnight's urine sample tested positive for cocaine, and an autopsy of the baby revealed cocaine metabolites.

Prosecutors said McKnight had been responsible for her daughter's death because she used crack cocaine even though she knew it could kill her fetus.

She was convicted under a law her attorney's said was unique to South Carolina which makes it a crime to cause the death of a child under the age of 11 while committing abuse or neglect if the death occurs under circumstances manifesting "an extreme indifference to human life."

A sharply divided South Carolina Supreme Court had upheld her conviction and sentence.

In the appeal, McKnight's lawyers said no other court in the nation had upheld a conviction of a pregnant woman under any general criminal statute on the premise that her conduct caused harm to her fetus. They also argued that the law was too vague and violated due process rights.

The lawyers said the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment does not allow a court to punish a pregnant woman as a murderer based on a finding that her conduct contributed to a stillbirth.

National and South Carolina associations of physicians, nurses, counselors, social workers and public health practitioners supported McKnight's appeal.

They warned the South Carolina law could be applied to pregnant women who suffer a stillbirth if they have smoked cigarettes or worked in a factory with a danger of exposure to hazardous waste.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said the appeal should be rejected. "This is not simply a case involving a tragic stillbirth that occurred through no fault of the mother," he said.

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