State v. Ashley

670 So. 2d 1087, 1996 WL 124657
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 22, 1996
Docket95-00510
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 670 So. 2d 1087 (State v. Ashley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Ashley, 670 So. 2d 1087, 1996 WL 124657 (Fla. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

670 So.2d 1087 (1996)

STATE of Florida, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
Kawana M. ASHLEY, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 95-00510.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

March 22, 1996.

*1088 Bernie McCabe, State Attorney, and C. Marie King and Douglas R. Ellis, Assistant State Attorneys, Clearwater, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and Bruce Johnson, Assistant Public Defender, Clearwater; and Priscilla Smith and Catherine Albisa of Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, New York City, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

PATTERSON, Judge.

On August 26, 1994, the state charged Kawana Ashley in a two-count information with manslaughter, contrary to section 782.07, Florida Statutes (1993), and third-degree felony murder, contrary to section 782.04(4), Florida Statutes (1993), both offenses arising from the death of her infant daughter, Brittany Ashley. The predicate felony in the third-degree murder charge was abortion or attempted abortion. Ashley moved to dismiss the information, asserting that she could not be charged with either offense as a matter of law. The trial court granted the motion as to third-degree murder and denied it as to manslaughter. The state appeals from the dismissal of the third-degree murder charge. Ashley cross-appeals from the denial of the motion as to the manslaughter charge. We have jurisdiction to entertain the cross-appeal. See Lopez v. State, 638 So.2d 931 (Fla.1994). We affirm and certify the issues presented here to the Florida Supreme Court as questions of great public importance.

THE FACTS

On March 27, 1994, nineteen year old Kawana Ashley was in the third trimester[1] of pregnancy (twenty-five to twenty-six weeks' *1089 pregnant) when she shot herself in the abdomen through a pillow. The bullet traveled from the right to the left side of her abdomen and passed through the fetus's wrist. Ashley was taken to a hospital where the baby was born by Cesarean section. The baby, Brittany, then suffered multi-organ problems of premature birth that led to her death after fifteen days.

Ashley originally told the police that she had been the victim of a drive-by shooting. Later, after having been given Miranda[2] warnings, she admitted to the investigating officer that "she had shot herself in order to hurt the baby."

THE BORN ALIVE DOCTRINE

The state's theory of prosecution is grounded on the common law "born alive doctrine." In the context of the criminal law, this doctrine can be traced back to the writings of Sir Edward Coke, appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench by King James I in 1613. In his institutes, Coke wrote that, under the common law of England:

If a woman be quick with childe, and by a potion or otherwise killeth it in her wombe; or if a man beat her, whereby the childe dieth in her body, and she is delivered of a dead childe, this is a great misprison, and no murder; but if the childe be born alive and dieth of the potion, battery, or other cause, this is murder; for in law it is accounted a reasonable creature in rerum natura, when it is born alive....

Williams v. State, 316 Md. 677, 561 A.2d 216, 218 (1989) (quoting 3 Coke, Institutes 50 (1648)).

The doctrine remains viable and has been applied to a wide variety of circumstances throughout the United States. For example, in Jones v. Commonwealth, 830 S.W.2d 877 (Ky.1992), the defendant's vehicle collided with another vehicle and injured a woman who was thirty-two weeks' pregnant. The defendant was under the influence of alcohol at the time. The baby was delivered by Cesarean section and died fourteen hours later from injuries sustained in the collision. The defendant was convicted of second-degree manslaughter. In State v. Hammett, 192 Ga.App. 224, 384 S.E.2d 220 (1989), the defendant's vehicle collided with another in which the passenger was thirty-five weeks' pregnant. The baby was born by Cesarean section and died eleven hours later from injuries suffered in the accident. The defendant was convicted of homicide by vehicle. In Williams v. State, 316 Md. 677, 561 A.2d 216 (1989), the defendant was convicted of manslaughter after having shot an arrow into the abdomen of a woman who was nine months' pregnant. The baby was born by Cesarean section and lived seventeen hours. In People v. Hall, 158 A.D.2d 69, 557 N.Y.S.2d 879, appeal denied, 76 N.Y.2d 1021, 565 N.Y.S.2d 771, 566 N.E.2d 1176 (1990), the defendant missed his intended victim and shot a woman passerby, who was twenty-eight weeks' pregnant, in the abdomen. The baby was born by Cesarean section and died thirty-six hours later from complications of premature birth. The defendant was convicted of manslaughter. In Ranger v. State, 249 Ga. 315, 290 S.E.2d 63 (1982), the defendant was convicted of felony murder after shooting a woman who ultimately died of her wounds. The woman's baby was born by Cesarean section and died twelve hours later from immature lung development. In People v. Bolar, 109 Ill.App.3d 384, 64 Ill.Dec. 919, 440 N.E.2d 639 (1982), the defendant driver ran a stop sign and collided with a vehicle in which a pregnant woman was a passenger. The baby was born by Cesarean section and died from a deficiency of oxygen. The defendant was convicted of reckless homicide.

Consistent with these holdings, the born alive doctrine has been applied in this state. In Day v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 328 So.2d 560, 562 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), a civil tort action, the court held, "A child injured before birth and born alive is a person under the Florida and Federal Constitutions. As such, that person is entitled to all of the constitutional rights, privileges and protections afforded to all other persons." In Knighton v. State, 603 So.2d 71 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), a case factually similar to this case, Knighton was charged with third-degree *1090 felony murder for shooting a woman twenty-eight to thirty weeks' pregnant in the abdomen. The bullet lodged in the fetus's head. The baby was born alive by Cesarean section and later died of the wound. Knighton moved to dismiss the charge. The basis of the motion was that the information failed to state a crime as a matter of law. In upholding the application of the born alive doctrine, the Fourth District determined that the common law doctrine had not been abrogated by the adoption of the feticide and termination of pregnancy statutes, sections 782.09 and 390.001(10), Florida Statutes (1989), respectively. 603 So.2d at 72. We agree with our sister court and adopt its holding. Therefore, the questions presented for our determination are:

1. Under the laws of Florida, may a mother be charged with the death of her born alive child when the death was caused by the mother's self-inflicted injuries?

2. If so, may the predicate felony for the offense of third-degree murder be abortion or attempted abortion?

THIRD-DEGREE FELONY MURDER

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Vitale
118 So. 3d 853 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Barnes v. State
743 So. 2d 1105 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
State v. Ashley
701 So. 2d 338 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
670 So. 2d 1087, 1996 WL 124657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ashley-fladistctapp-1996.