July 2 (UPI) — Lawyers of an Alabama woman charged with manslaughter in the death of her unborn baby demanded the indictment against her be dropped.
Marshae Jones, 27, was indicted last week for the death of her unborn child. Jones was shot Dec. 4, and authorities said since she started the fight that led to the shooting while knowing she was five months pregnant she is responsible for the fetus’s death.
Her lawyers called the charges “unreasonable,” according to a motion filed Monday with the court by her lawyer J. Mark White of the law firm White Arnold & Dowd.
“It is simply unconscionable to prosecute a shooting victim for losing her baby as a result of an unforeseeable injury,” the law firm said in a release. “The charges against Marshae are based on a flawed and contorted theory of criminal liability that simply does not exist under the law.”
Ebony Jemison, 23, the woman who allegedly shot Jones, was initially charged with murder and attempted murder but the charges were dismissed after a grand jury failed to indict her.
“We are asking the court to dismiss this unreasonable, unfounded and unjust indictment with prejudice and without delay,” the law firm said.
The law firm agreed to take on her case Friday, saying Jones faces “an unprecedented legal action that subjects this victim of violence to further distress and harm.”
