Commonwealth v. Crawford

720 N.E. 2d 960 (2000)

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Legal Analysis

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Nature Of The Case

This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Facts

Crawford (D) was convicted of involuntary manslaughter of his girlfriend and her unborn fetus. On July 7, 1990, D shot Kimberly in the face. She was found four hours later after rigor mortis had set in. At the time of the shooting, Kimberly was 7 months pregnant with D’s baby. At trial, a medical examiner offered uncontroverted testimony that the fetus died of oxygen deprivation but had been viable. D claims that the statutes are unconstitutionally vague as applied to a viable fetus, that the trial judge’s instruction of viability unconstitutionally lowered the burden of proof and that the instructions incorrectly permitted the jury to find D guilty of fetus homicide without proof of his knowledge of its existence and viability.

Issues

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Holding & Decision

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