California AG condemns murder charge against woman over stillborn baby
California attorney general Xavier Becerra has thrown his support behind overturning a murder charge against a woman who delivered a stillborn baby with toxic levels of methamphetamine in his system.
He filed an amicus brief on Friday August 7, 2020, in support of a bid by Chelsea Becker to stall her prosecution over a stillbirth in September, 2019.
Becker, 26, has been jailed at Kings County in Hanford since November, last year when she was arrested, with a bail set at $2 million.
Attorney Becerra contended that local district attorney “misapplied and misinterpreted” a state law against the intentional killing of a fetus.
“Our laws in California do not convict women who suffer the loss of their pregnancy, and in our filing today we are making clear that this law has been misused to the detriment of women, children, and families,” he said.
He said he would support the move to end the prosecution and imprisonment of Ms. Becker, adding that there would later be a focus on the law application to those who are guilty of putting the lives of women in danger.
Police said in a press release that Becker confessed to have used methamphetamine three days before the stillbirth following an autopsy on the stillborn baby, which showed that some toxic level of methamphetamine in his system.
As of Friday, the prosecutor told news reporters that he had not seen the attorney general’s brief.
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