Thread: Crash victim's family lobbies for Unborn Victims of Violenc

Tue, Jul 10, 2007 Crash victim's family lobbies for Unborn Victims of Violence law

Newman
By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
http://www.salisburypost.com/area/307543666586563.php
Members of Leeanna Newman's family came to court Monday with pictures of their loved one and her daughter, a child who never drew a breath on her own.
Leeanna and her unborn daughter, who was to have been named Bianca Cheyenne, were killed in early February when an illegal alien crashed head-on into Leeanna's car on South Main Street in Landis.
A hearing was held Monday to set the trial date for Rigo Verto Guillen-Martinez, charged with a number of offenses — second-degree murder included — related to the collision. His trial is scheduled for Sept. 17.
Leeanna, 20, and Bianca were buried in the same casket, the young mother's arm wrapped around her daughter in a protective embrace that will last for eternity.
The child was buried in a dress that Leeanna had purchased just days prior to the crash. She'd intended for her daughter to wear it home from the hospital after her birth.
The pictures that Leeanna's aunt, Jeanette Bentley, carried with her to court Monday show the mother and daughter in that casket. Though the child never lived outside her mother's womb, she was perfectly formed, obviously only days from entering the world.
"You can't look at these pictures and say only one person died that day," Bentley said.
For that reason, Bentley and other family members have become involved with Unborn Victims of Violence — House Bill No. 263 — which is stalled in a judiciary committee of the state legislature.
North Carolina is one of the few states that doesn't have such a law, one that allows a person charged with the murder or manslaughter of a pregnant woman to also be charged with causing the death of the unborn child.
Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly said the absence of such a law made it impossible for him to charge Martinez with the death of Newman's unborn child.
As state law now reads, Kenerly said, the child must have been alive outside the womb in order for murder or manslaughter charges to be filed in its death.
"It's just not a homicide in North Carolina," Kenerly said. "It's not a homicide unless the infant is alive and breathing on its own."
Asked if he supported such a law, Kenerly replied, "I think it'd be appropriate in North Carolina."
A rally in support of Unborn Victims of Violence was to be held outside the state legislature Monday night. A news conference on the matter is scheduled in the legislature's offices at 9:30 this morning.
The issue has been brought to a head around Raleigh because of the recent murder there of a carrier for USA Today who was killed while delivering the paper one morning. The woman was eight months pregnant.
One of the primary sponsors of the Unborn Victims of Violence bill is Rep. Fred Steen (R-Rowan). Steen said he has been a supporter of the bill for years but decided to become one of its primary sponsors after the deaths of Newman and her baby.
Steen said he hopes that today's news conference raises awareness of the bill and leads people to call their legislators to express their support.
He said he's surprised that North Carolina doesn't have such a law that would allow a second murder charge to be filed in cases like Newman's.
"We take care of our animals; we take care of all kinds of things," Steen said. "Why can't we take care of our own?"
He said he's unsure why there is opposition to the bill, but said he's been told that pro-choice advocates don't support it.
That might be one of the reasons the bill is moving slowly through the legislature, Steen said.
"I don't see it as a pro-choice or pro-life issue," he said. "I know that 97 percent of North Carolinians think it's the thing to do."
Bentley, the aunt of Leeanna Newman, said she and others in her family are included in that 97 percent. They planned to travel to Raleigh for Monday night's rally and today's news conference.
"I feel our government has betrayed our niece," Bentley said.
Leeanna's other daughter, Mallory, who was in the car the day her mother and unborn sister died, lives with father, Bradley Newman.
Mallory has turned 2 since the accident and still talks to her mother quite often, Bentley said.
She said the little girl will go to a picture of her mother that's mounted on the refrigerator. Bentley said she'll sometimes try to feed her mother food and at other times will try to brush her teeth.
"She's a happy little girl," Bentley said of Mallory. "Overall, she's adjusted well."
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.

"She's a happy little girl," Bentley said of Mallory. "Overall, she's adjusted well."

We never hear these positive statements in the illegal's sob stories. According to the media illegal aliens children either are or will be doomed forever and will never be happy again because we deported or are talking about deporting their parents.