The Ins and Outs of Fetal Homicide Laws

The Ins and Outs of Fetal Homicide Laws In 1969, Teresa Keeler, eight months pregnant, was beaten unconscious by her jealous ex-husband, Robert Keeler, who told her during the attack that he was going to stomp it out of her. Later, at the hospital, Keeler delivered her little girl, who was stillborn and suffered a fractured skull. Prosecutors attempted to charge Robert Keeler with the beating of his wife and for the murder of the fetus, Baby Girl Vogt, named with her fathers last name. The California Supreme Court dismissed the charges, saying that only someone born alive could be killed and that the fetus was not legally a human being. Due to public pressure, the murder statute was eventually amended to say that murder charges can only apply to fetuses older than seven weeks or beyond the embryonic stage. Laci Peterson This law was then used to prosecute Scott Peterson with two counts of murder for Laci Peterson, his wife, and their seven-month unborn son, Conner. If both the woman and the child were killed and we can prove the child was killed due to the actions of the perpetrator, then we charge both, said Stanislaus County Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley as quoted by CourtTv.com. A multiple murder charge against Scott Peterson makes him eligible for the death penalty according to California law. Fetal Homicide:When Is a Fetus Considered Living? Although many states now have fetal homicide laws, there is a wide variety of differences about when a fetus is considered living.   Pro-Choice groups see the laws as a way to undermine Roe v. Wade, although currently statues to the laws clearly exclude legal abortions. Anti-abortionists view it as a way to teach the public about the value of a human life. Rae Carruth Former pro football player for the Carolina Panthers, Rae Carruth, was convicted of conspiracy to commit the murder of Cherica Adams, who was seven months pregnant with his child. He was also found guilty of shooting into an occupied vehicle and of using an instrument to kill a fetus. Adams died of a result of the gunshot wounds but her child, delivered by Caesarean section, survived. Rae Carruth received close to the maximum sentence of 19 to 24 years in prison. Unborn Victims of Violence Act On April 1, 2004, President Bush signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conners Law. The new law states that any child in utero is considered to be a legal victim if injured or killed during the commission of a federal crime of violence. The bills definition of child in utero is a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb. Veronica Jane Thornsbury Since February 2004, Kentucky law recognizes a crime of fetal homicide in the first, second, third, and fourth degrees. The law defines an unborn child, as a member of the species homo sapiens in utero from conception onward, without regard to age, health, or condition of dependency. This determination came after the March 2001 tragedy involving 22-year-old Veronica Jane Thornsbury who was in labor and on her way to the hospital when a driver, under the influence of drugs, Charles Christopher Morris, 29, ran a red light and smashed into Thornsbury car and killed her. The fetus was stillborn. The drugged driver was prosecuted on for the murder of both the mother and the fetus. However, because her baby was not born, state Court of Appeals overturned a guilty plea in the death of the fetus. Currently, 37 states recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn child as homicide in at least some circumstances.

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes From the Inventor and Artist

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes From the Inventor and Artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a respected and honored genius of the Renaissance era, and an Italian painter and inventor. His observations of the world around him were well-documented in his numerous sketchbooks, which  still impress us to this day for both their artistic and scientific brilliance. As a painter, Leonardo is best known for The Last Supper (1495) and Mona Lisa (1503). As an inventor, Leonardo was fascinated by the promise of mechanical flight and designed flying machines that were centuries ahead of their time. On Flight For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. Motivation It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.Learning never exhausts the mind.I have wasted my hours.All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of experience, the mother of all knowledge.The acquisition of knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. So we must stretch ourselves to the very limits of human p ossibility. Anything less is a sin against both God and man. Engineering Invention Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience, it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. Philosophy The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects.Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.Nature never breaks her own laws.I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind. Misattributions The following are common quotes attributed to  Leonardo da Vinci; however, he just did not say them. I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men. Unfortunately these are not the words of Leonardo. They were written by Russian author Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (Russian, 1865-1941) in his historical fiction titled  The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci. Source:  Was Leonardo a Vegetarian? Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else. And that gem of a quote was made by  Tom Peters in his article  The Best Corporate Strategy?