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Law named for Laci Peterson and her unborn son yet to be tested
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Some gruesome killings could put Laci Peterson’s legal legacy to the test. In 2004, after a high-profile trial, a jury in San Mateo County, Calif., convicted Peterson’s husband, Scott, on two counts of murder. The victims were Laci Peterson, eight months pregnant, and her unborn son, Conner.

Congress commemorated the slain California woman by passing the controversial Laci and Conner’s Law and creating a new federal crime of killing an unborn child.

Supporters said the measure would fill a law enforcement loophole.

“Police and prosecutors ... have shared the grief of families, but have so often been unable to seek justice for the full offense,” President Bush said at the time.

The rhetoric was emphatic on all sides. The bill was a lifesaver, supporters said. It would undermine women’s rights, opponents feared.

In calculating the consequences of Laci and Conner’s Law, however, the jury is still out.

So far, Bureau of Justice Statistics databases don’t show any federal prosecutions under the law, also known as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Supporters of the law say they haven’t heard of any.

The apparent absence of federal prosecutions undercuts Bush’s claim that prosecutors had “so often” been blocked from seeking justice until the law was passed. Moreover, most homicide prosecutions occur in state, rather than federal, courts.

Several recent military homicides could be prosecuted under the federal statute, but they probably won’t be.

In North Carolina, Army Sgt. Edgar Patino Lopez is charged with murdering 23-year-old Megan Touma, a pregnant Army specialist with whom he allegedly was having an affair. Touma’s body was found in a Fayetteville motel in June.

Six months earlier, officials found the burned body of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. Lauterbach, too, was pregnant when she was killed, and her body was placed in a shallow grave near North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean is in Mexico awaiting extradition in the case.

North Carolina isn’t among the 35 states that have fetal homicide laws. There’s no indication that either Touma or Laurean will be prosecuted under the federal law.

But counting prosecutions isn’t necessarily the only measure of legislative impact.

“We think there are several types of value to this law,” said Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, an anti-abortion advocacy group. “One is deterrence. Hopefully, people will take this into account when they beat up on a woman.”

Deterrence is hard to prove: Why does someone not commit a crime?

Political influence is another potential consequence, though tracking it can be equally tough.

After Bush signed the federal law on April 1, 2004, a dozen additional states adopted similar measures. Perhaps Congress inspired the states. Or perhaps lawmakers were simply sharing the same political momentum swollen by Peterson’s murder.

Peterson disappeared in late December 2002, about two months before her expected due date. Her body and that of a fetus were found on the shore of San Francisco Bay in April 2003, the same month that police arrested Scott Peterson.

The case prompted Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, also a Modesto, Calif., resident, to champion the federal fetal-homicide legislation, which had previously stalled on Capitol Hill.

“Our grandson (Conner) did live,” Rocha declared during her lobbying campaign. “He had a name, he was loved and his life was violently taken from him before he ever saw the sun.”

Congressional critics thought that the federal statute conflicted with the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing a constitutional right to an abortion. While explicitly exempting abortion, the federal fetal-homicide law defines the protected unborn child as spanning “any stage of development ... in the womb.”

Because it hasn’t been applied yet, the federal law hasn’t been challenged. State courts, though, have upheld comparable state laws.

Take a look
In 2004, after a high-profile trial, a jury in San Mateo County, Calif., convicted Peterson’s husband, Scott, on two counts of murder. The victims were Laci Peterson, eight months pregnant, and her unborn son, Conner. (AP Photo/Al Golub, Pool)
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Reader comments on this story - 9 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Woody wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:48 AM:

" Herr Hundhausen wrote: " The Fifth Commandment.. You must not kill. In a court of law you can plead the Fifth. "
You need to retake your American Government class. Taking the Fifth refers to the Fifth Amendment, which (among other things) says that nobody can be forced to testify against themselves in criminal trial.

Tom Terrific wrote:
" I'm almost positive that "Must not kill" is the 6th commandment, not the 5th. "
It depends on which Bible you use. Most Protestant Bibles will have it 5th, but I have seen some - in particular those used by the Catholics and some Lutherans - that has it 6th.

Michael wrote:"It is not right to have this double standard, to say you can't kill a fetus, yet you can have an abortion?!"
I agree. This law should never have been passed. A fetus is NOT a human life, so it cannot be murder. "

andy wrote on Sep 1, 2008 5:28 PM:

" Abortion is NOT murder. A woman has the right to have her body used as she likes......to carry a child or not. Abortion is a decision made by the woman, not the violent taking of a life against her will. Life begins when that baby can sustain its own life - when it is born, and can breathe on its own. "

Tom Terrific wrote on Sep 1, 2008 10:21 AM:

" I'm almost positive that "Must not kill" is the 6th commandment, not the 5th. "

Herr Hundhausen wrote on Sep 1, 2008 5:56 AM:

" The Fifth Commandment.. You must not kill. In a court of law you can plead the Fifth. "

Annienap wrote on Aug 31, 2008 6:50 PM:

" It is murder to kill any human being no matter what the circumstances are. It is my understanding, however, that a mother has no choice if there has to be decision to save the mother's life or that of the child. The mother's life will be saved and the child's will not be saved-at least that is the law in some states; I don't know how many states though. In the case of Lacy Petersen and her unborn child, in my opinion, it is TWO murders and should be the same for anyone who takes the life of a pregnant woman and her baby whether they are in the military or whatever. "

fairburyparent wrote on Aug 31, 2008 5:27 PM:

" If you can't tell the difference, theres little hope for you. "

The Peanut Gallery wrote on Aug 31, 2008 4:47 PM:

" to Michael who wrote on Aug 31, 2008 3:55 PM:

" ... I am trying to make this sound like it is my opinion and mine alone, ok?! "

And your opinion is based on an interesting observation: How can it be 'murder' for one person to kill the child [someone other than the mother] and yet a 'constitutional right' for the mother to do so? The murder is comlete with the death. It should not matter who does the killing. "

WorkinTheOpinionBoard wrote on Aug 31, 2008 4:15 PM:

" I'll say this upfront, I am against abortion. What I think this is trying to say is, if a pregnant woman's life is violently taken, then the person who did it will be charged with 2 counts of murder, not one. This is for a pregnant woman in any stage of pregancy. Abortion, unfortuneatly, is a legal, medical procedure. Therefore, it's legal to have an abortion (yuck) but illegal to violently murder a pregnant woman. Makes sense..right? (drippng sarcasm) "

Michael wrote on Aug 31, 2008 3:55 PM:

" It is not right to have this double standard, to say you can't kill a fetus, yet you can have an abortion?! My OPINION is that this is ridiculous, it can't be murder if you do it, but ok if a doctor does it. Last time I said this I didn't get it in the paper, I am trying to make this sound like it is my opinion and mine alone, ok?! "
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