How can Scott Peterson be guilty of murdering his unborn son?

[Lancer]

Don't get me wrong, the guy looks like he's eligible for sicko nutcase of the year...

I would also consider him a murderer for killing his unborn son, but I'm surprised society considers him so, if guilty of course.

Best I can figure, an abortion doctor kills that unborn son, and that's fine. Dad kills the unborn son and it's murder. In both cases the life is ended...So how does the logic work for the legal system?

[C0ckney]

i don't know about the US but here it's like this. if you kill an unborn child, then you are charged with unlawful destruction of a feotus. if, however you inflict injuries on an unborn child, who is subsequently born and then dies from those injuries then you are charged with murder.

[JohnT]

Lancer, it is likely that Laci gave birth while she was being murdered, "necessitating" the murder of the infant as well.

[Zkribbler]

IIRC, Roe v. Wade says that, beginning in the last trimester, the state has an interest in the foetus and can pass laws to protect it. And I'm almost certain that California has some penal statute protecting these foetuses from murder.

[Lancer]

Damn

Ok, thanks JohnT, COckney...

[Lancer]

Zkribbler, I see, thanks. So the abortion doctor would have also been a murderer at 8 months...

[SuperSneak]

Yes...3rd trimester abortions are a no-no I think.
If a child can be considered to have been viable outside the womb, it is considered murder. Don't know where the cutoff age is for that, but I think it is in the 3-6 month range.
What a monster...

[Shi Huangdi]

"Yes...3rd trimester abortions are a no-no I think."

In theory they aren't supposed to do it barring "medical nessecity". Of course, that doesn't mean abortion doctors don't do it.

[Lancer]

SuperSneak, he's an unfathomable monster...what a thing... painful to dwell on.

Shi, I imagine so....horrible.

[Ben Kenobi]

Lancer:

Best I can figure, an abortion doctor kills that unborn son, and that's fine. Dad kills the unborn son and it's murder.

I believe you but I want to see a link to this. If the mother did not give birth at the time of the assault and miscarried later this is a huge case.

As for the legal position:

It does not make any sense at all.

Imran:
What about Doe v. Bolton? It establishes the woman's right to have an abortion for health reasons, including preservation of emotional health. This allows any woman to have a third trimester abortion along these lines.

If the child was born before dying, then this case is not one of murdering a foetus, but of infanticide.

[Lancer]

obiwan, you're thinking what I was thinking. The others here are suggesting that at the end of the pregnacy it would be murder either way, abortion 'doctor' or deranged father.

[Ben Kenobi]

The Partial Birth abortion ban, as I see it, only prevents an abortionist from pulling part of the child out of the womb and then slaughtering her. The bill says nothing about other methods of late-term abortions.

[Ben Kenobi]

Lancer:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/19/MN173802.DTL

"It is unclear whether the baby was separated from its mother before or after her death. But medical examiners said they would continue to test for answers."

So inconclusive as to which law is going to punish Scott Peterson.

[Traianvs]

who's scott peterson!!!

[SuperSneak]

Accused killer of wife and 8month old (in utero) child. Wife disappeared 12/24 and father claims he was fishing that day...the body of the mother and the child were just found a day or two ago, very decomposed.