Man convicted in Maryland's first fetal homicide case

Maryland's fetal homicide law allows charges to be brought for murder or manslaughter of a viable fetus -- one that could live outside of the womb.

BALTIMORE (CNS) - A Maryland Catholic Conference official said justice was served when a Maryland man was found guilty March 26 of murdering his unborn daughter in what was the first such conviction since the state enacted a fetal homicide law in 2005.

It took the jury for the Baltimore County Circuit Court less than an hour to hand down two first-degree murder convictions for 25-year-old David Miller, who was accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child June 11, 2007.

Maryland's fetal homicide law allows charges to be brought for murder or manslaughter of a viable fetus -- one that could live outside of the womb.

Medical experts testified the fetus Walters was carrying could have survived if it had been delivered within a few minutes after the shooting.

"Clearly this man took the lives of two human beings, so why shouldn't he be convicted of two murders," said Nancy Paltell, associate director for the Respect for Life Department of the Catholic conference, the public policy arm for the state's bishops.

"It should serve as a lesson too. The reason for the murder was the baby. It's not acceptable for fathers to try and kill or harm the fetus if the woman won't have an abortion," she added.

Miller was convicted of shooting Elizabeth Walters, 24, in a parked car in a shopping center lot June 11. She was seven months pregnant with his child. Walters, a 2001 graduate of the Catholic High School of Baltimore, and her unborn daughter died.

Her friend, Heather Lowe, now 25, testified during the three-day trial that Miller was the shooter. Lowe also was shot during the attack.

Miller also was convicted of attempted first-degree murder for shooting Lowe.

"Obtaining the first conviction under a new criminal statute is always important," said Scott Shellenberger, Baltimore County state's attorney.

"The conduct of the defendant in this case presented the exact factual scenario this statute was enacted to address. I am gratified that this case may serve as groundwork for other prosecutors who may be evaluating prosecutions under this statute," he said.

Shellenberger contends that Miller killed Walters and her baby to keep his wife from finding out about his infidelity.

During the trial, Lowe testified that Miller climbed into the back seat of the car she was sitting in with Walters and told the pregnant woman she was not going to ruin his life, then pulled out a gun and shot her in the head. Friends of Walters, a popular waitress at a Baltimore pub, said she had enthusiastically made the choice to raise the daughter she was carrying and was preparing for the birth.

Shellenberger said he intends to push for the maximum prison term of life without the possibility of parole when Miller is sentenced in July.

Before the 2005 law was passed, the Maryland Catholic Conference had lobbied to strengthen the legislation to include the death of a fetus regardless of the gestation for any pregnant woman who chose to have her baby, but accepted that the law would only pass in its current form.

"I want to be clear, this case has nothing to do with abortion," Paltell said. "It's about a woman who made a choice to carry her baby to term and a man who has taken that choice from her by taking the life of that baby and hers."

Although Shellenberger expected the case to be appealed, the Catholic conference is confident the courts will uphold the verdict, Paltell said.

"Similar laws in other states have been challenged over the years and none of those appeals have been successful," she told The Catholic Review, Baltimore's archdiocesan newspaper. "This is a good law that provides justice for the murder of unborn children."

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops