http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/justice/maryland-abortion-doctors-murder/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Quote :

Two Maryland abortion doctors face murder charges
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 7:14 PM EST, Fri December 30, 2011



Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley are awaiting extradition hearings to bring them back to Maryland, police said.


Elkton, Maryland (CNN) -- Two Maryland doctors face murder charges related to abortions performed on late-term fetuses that were viable, authorities said Friday.

Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley are in jails in New Jersey and Utah, respectively, awaiting extradition hearings to bring them back to Maryland, police in Elkton, Maryland, said in a news release.

The two face identical charges -- five counts each of first-degree murder, five of second-degree murder and one of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

The cases did not fall into the exceptions for aborted fetuses under Maryland law, Kerwin Miller, the deputy state's attorney for Cecil County, told CNN.

Defense attorney Tom Brown told CNN by e-mail that Brigham "has fully cooperated with this investigation" and has not "violated any Maryland laws." Another lawyer for Brigham, Norman Wilson, declined to comment.

Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, an attorney at a Baltimore-based law firm that is representing Riley, said, "We believe that the criminal charges are without merit, (and) we believe it is inappropriate for (Riley) to be held without bond."

The investigation began August 13, 2010, when Riley brought a woman into an Elkton hospital due to a "complication resulting from a medical procedure," police said. The woman had driven from New Jersey to Maryland for an abortion, investigators later determined.

Days later, Elkton police searched the abortion clinic where Brigham and Riley work and found several fetuses "in a freezer chest." The fetuses were taken to a medical examiner's office in Baltimore, according to the news release.

The indictment warrant was issued Wednesday, following an investigation. Camden, New Jersey, police took Brigham into custody "without incident" later that night. The 55-year-old doctor has since been held at the Camden County jail.

Riley, 46, was also detained without incident Wednesday evening by the Unified Police Department in Utah. She is being held at the Salt Lake City jail, ahead of an anticipated extradition hearing, Elkton police said.

Miller, who is the chief homicide prosecutor for Cecil County, said more details on the case will not be released until Tuesday.

that is disgusting. i believe in the right to choose... but these were VIABLE which is completely different from first term abortions.

The woman is responsible to though... she drove from NJ to MD for what? because she couldnt find a doctor in NJ who would do it! Prostitution is illegal and both the hookers and johns get arrested, the mother aborting a viable fetus that had to drive at least 50miles to find a doctor who would do it should be charged too.

They're where they're supposed to be.

They're in for a long sentence.

All par for the course. This is who we are now.

What can I say? I don't feel sorry for them one bit and I hope they get the maximum sentence.

So once science amd medicine is able to keep a 3 month fetus alive, will the likelihood of murder charges increase? Will we only allow abortion during the first 3 weeks? At some point we need to accept a choice is a choice..

zthatzmanz28 wrote:

So once science amd medicine is able to keep a 3 month fetus alive, will the likelihood of murder charges increase? Will we only allow abortion during the first 3 weeks? At some point we need to accept a choice is a choice..

Some people argue for abortion when the baby is underdeveloped to the point it needs assistance from machines to stay alive, HOWEVER these same people don't say that old people who also need to be kept alive by machines don't count as people and should just be exterminated.

Our society already has too little value of babies' lives. Even once they're born they can be killed and people hardly bat an eye. Especially if the mothers do it, some cases recently, if a FATHER had thrown his baby out of the 4th story window or stabbed it to death or strangled it with underwear, then the whole nation would cry shoot him at dawn, but if a mother does it, well then let's not be too hard on her, it's not that big of a deal, it's not like the baby is a person even though it's already been born.