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Crime against unborn? Woman held for trial in death of a fetus Saturday, July 10, 1999 By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Angela Alston, 25, and Pamela Council, 34, two McKees Rocks women who shared an affection for the father of Council's unborn child, had words on a borough street June 26, then tussled and tumbled to the sidewalk.
Council, who was nine weeks pregnant, says Alston kicked her twice in the abdomen as she tried to get up.
Alston's family says Council started the fight, and that Alston did not kick Council.
The fetus died. Exactly when, no one can say.
But Council's gynecologist removed it the same day, and after the Allegheny County coroner's office took possession of the fetal remains, county police charged Alston with homicide under a new state law, the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act.
At a coroner's hearing yesterday, Alston was ordered to stand trial for homicide and related charges of aggravated assault and aggravated assault against an unborn child. It was the first case of its kind in the county and possibly the state.
Council, of Woodlaw Street, testified she was walking with her 11-year-old son toward Lillian Street to see her mother when Alston approached from behind.
She said Alston accosted her on the sidewalk in front of an apartment in McKees Rocks Terrace, punched her in the back of the neck, knocked her down, grabbed her by the hair and bashed her head against the ground. As she struggled to her feet, she said, Alston delivered two kicks to her stomach.
"I knew something was wrong with the baby," she said. "I felt this awful, terrible pain in my stomach."
Dr. Abdulrezak Shakir, a county forensic pathologist, said he believed abdominal trauma caused the death of the fetus.
When Deputy Coroner Timothy Uhrich announced his decision to hold Alston for trial, her family and friends in the gallery gasped, wept and then left the building outraged.
"There was no evidence," whispered one friend. "None."
On the street, Alston's sister, Alana, who claimed she witnessed the fight with a host of others, said Council was the one who threw the first blows.
"She got up there on that stage and lied," she said. "She did not kick her in the stomach. Pam started the fight. Pam was spreading rumors about my sister. There were no witnesses [today] for my sister. She didn't get a fair trial."
A coroner's hearing typically features only the prosecution's side, with the state required only to show it has sufficient evidence to proceed to a trial.
The father of the unborn child, Raymond Hutchinson, 29, who now lives with Alston, said Council had been upset since he split with her in September. He said she had been calling him ever since, making derogatory comments about his new girlfriend.
He and other friends of Alston said that was the root of the argument that led to the fight.
Proving that kicks during the scuffle caused the death could be difficult. Although Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht has ruled the death a homicide and Shakir testified that the abdominal trauma was the "major factor" causing it, Alston's attorney, Lee Markovitz, argued that medical experts could not pinpoint the time of death or conclusively determine the cause.
Council had a sonogram June 7 during which a fetal heartbeat was detected.
Her gynecologist examined her June 17 and found the fetus was viable. But Markovitz said that because no one can prove when the fetus died, the state can't prove it died as a result of the fight.
Markovitz said there were other complicating factors that he likely will bring out at a trial, including a finding that the fetus had Turner's syndrome, a chromosomal defect that occurs in one in every 4,000 live female births.
Council had remained composed during her testimony and later as she sat with her family in the gallery and listened to the proceedings. But when Shakir mentioned the genetic abnormality she burst into tears, jumped from her seat and yelled "Help me!" before collapsing behind the defense table. She was escorted from the courtroom and she didn't return.
Markovitz had one other challenge to the state's case -- the question of intent. There was no testimony that Alston kicked Council in the stomach with the goal of killing the baby.
"We don't have any indication that this is an intentional killing," Markovitz said.
Under the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act, a suspect can be convicted of first-, second- or third-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. If the state can prove Alston intended to kill the fetus, she could face the same penalty as anyone else convicted of first-degree murder -- life in prison.
Pennsylvania is one of 26 states that treat the killing of a fetus as a homicide.
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