Corinne Wilcott admitted she was drunk, high and in a jealous rage the June 2002 night she was accused of kicking her husband's pregnant lover in the stomach during a fight in Erie.

After a one-week trial, she became one of the first people under a 1990 state lawto be found guilty of the murder of an unborn child. The jury was convinced that her kicks were the only the reason the baby was delivered stillborn four days later.

Now medical evidence has surfaced that not only suggests Sheena Carson's own health problems may have contributed to the child's death, but also that the child did not die from kicks and may have been dead long before the fight.

Those scientific issues are examples of how oversimplified diagnoses may unduly influence juries when more detailed scientific explanations might further the cause of justice.

Mrs. Wilcott, who was 21 the night of the fight, was convicted of fetal homicide after the jury bought the prosecution's argument that the child's death was from a placental abruption, the separation of the placenta from the uterine wall, causing a loss of blood supply and death to the fetus.

That condition routinely occurs between the 20th week of pregnancy and delivery and may result from high blood pressure, blunt force trauma, smoking, drinking, drug abuse or among other things, infections.

In 2002, three years after their marriage in the Erie County Jail, where her husband was serving time for assault, Mrs. Wilcott caught him having an affair with Ms. Carson. During a confrontation over the liaisons -- one of many -- Ms. Carson told her she was pregnant with her husband's child.

Ms. Carson, 19 years old at the time, worked as a gas station convenience store clerk, and was not receiving regular prenatal care. While a jury would never hear it, her medical records later revealed battles with chlamydia, bacterial infections, inconclusive HIV tests and diabetes, all of which routinely cause pregnancies to be deemed "high risk."

On the night of an Erie graduation party on June 7, 2002, Mrs. Wilcott -- who says at the timeshe did not believe her husband's paramour was pregnant -- drank a large quantity of rum, smoked marijuana and consumed the drug ecstasy before the party began winding down around 1 a.m.

As Ms. Carson was leaving, witnesses say, Mrs. Wilcott jumped her from behind, grabbed her hair, kicked her and pulled her to the sidewalk, screaming: "I hope the bastard dies."

Later, at an emergency room when no fetal heartbeat was detected in Ms. Carson's fetus, the hospital summoned police.

Despite advice that she was in a medical emergency, Ms. Carson waited four days to deliver the baby stillborn and a doctor -- who did not consider the event the result of a high-risk pregnancy -- determined there might be a placental abruption. That led police to believe it could have occurred during the fight.

Twelve days passed before Dr. Eric Vey, a forensic pathologist for the Erie County coroner's office, confirmed the death was caused by a placental abruption as a result of Mrs. Wilcott's kicks to the abdomen.

He also noted a swollen umbilical cord, which could have meant infection.

Though Ms. Carson should have been 18-19 weeks pregnant based on her one prenatal examination, Dr. Vey -- who did not view the woman's medical history of infections and other problems -- determined the fetal age to be only 15.2 weeks, based on size and development of the organs.

Though Erie County Prosecutor John Daneri called the case one of "violence and death" and "cause and effect" in opening arguments, Mrs. Wilcott's attorney, Timothy Lucas, called it one of science and said it was clear reasonable doubt would emerge because experts could not agree on the cause of death.

In her testimony, Ms. Carson described being kicked twice, which was confirmed by other witnesses.

While there was no bruising on Ms. Carson's abdomen, Dr. Vey told the jury the fetus suffocated when the blunt force trauma of Mrs. Wilcott's kick separated the placenta from the uterine wall.

Dr. Miles Jones, the defense's forensic expert, testified such kicks would not be enough blunt force trauma to cause a placental abruption. He said the impact would have to be roughly equivalent to a serious car accident. For the first time, he also suggested significant bacteria found on Ms. Carson's placenta show the child could have died as much as a month prior to the fight.

Mrs. Wilcott's lawyer persuaded her not to testify because she couldn't remember the events of that night clearly, and her drug- and alcohol-induced memory loss would only make her situation worse.

The jury believed the prosecution's expert, and Mrs. Wilcott was convicted and sentenced to up to 14 years in prison for third-degree murder.

Possibility of infection

After she was sent to State Correctional Institutional at Muncy, Mrs. Wilcott sought out new experts to look into Ms. Carson's health history and rumors that she'd been injured in previous fights.

First, she found a pediatric radiologist at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital who not only found abnormalities in the skull indicating the fetus had been dead longer than four days, but also questioned whether there was enough of a placental abruption to cause fetal death.

Then, Dr. Mark Caine, a gynecologist at West Penn Hospital, said his examination of autopsy photographs show no placental abruption occurred; he also concluded the fetus was dead long before the fight.

He also pointed out that Ms. Carson suffered from diabetes, another factor that makes pregnancies high risk, as well as an untreated yeast infection and B Streptococcus, which could have contributed to a prenatal bacterial infection.

Despite this new evidence, her initial appellate arguments have been denied, so she now is putting together a more detailed scientific package of newly discovered evidence hoping to get back in court.

Recently, Mrs. Wilcott won a small victory. Because she was convicted of a crime involving violence against a minor, prison officials denied her request to have visits with her own 6-year-old daughter. Recently, after attending counseling classes for sex offenders and child molesters, the mother and daughter were allowed to reunite.

"I have had four miscarriages before giving birth to my little girl, and each one of those miscarriages hurt me." Mrs. Wilcott said in an interview.

"I would never have inflicted any harm on [Sheena Carson] or any other person who may be carrying a child. No matter what state of mind I was in."