this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
209 points (96.4% liked)

News

36942 readers
2580 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Brittany Watts, 34, miscarried at nearly 22 weeks.

A grand jury decided Thursday not to indict an Ohio woman on allegations that she mishandled the remains of a fetus after miscarrying her pregnancy at home.

The case had alarmed reproductive rights groups and legal experts who said there is no clear guidance on how to handle an at-home miscarriage and that police and local prosecutors overreached by charging the woman, who is Black, with "abuse of a corpse."

Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren, was arrested last October and pleaded not guilty to the charge. If convicted, she would have faced up to a year in prison. Because the grand jury decided not to indict, the case has been dropped.

...

A subsequent autopsy showed that the baby had died before being born due to a spontaneous miscarriage and that no illicit drugs were present. Watts was arrested two weeks later on accusations of "abusing a corpse."

all 17 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Xariphon@kbin.social 37 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you ever get called up for the jury and get one of these cases... Remember that (in the US at least) there is a concept called "jury nullification" that you should not mention at the courthouse but can absolutely act upon.

[–] ReiRose@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

For others bc I had to look it up. Good tip. I will be more enthusiastic about being called for jury duty in future.

[–] EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Just remember not to let on that you know about the concept. In a lot of places indicating that you would not indict or convict on a law you believe to be unjust is a very fast way to get dismissed from jury duty.

Also worth noting that you can potentially spoil the entire jury pool by mentioning it during voir dire, forcing the courtroom to postpone jury selection entirely.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

no illicit drugs were present

I'm deeply afraid that this might have turned out differently if she had even something as simple as cannabis in her system.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 1 points 2 years ago

Ohio has legalized marijuana, so it should not be considered illicit.

[–] RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

"Decided." I wonder how much deliberating they actually had to do, or if they immediately just turned around and said fuck that shit.

[–] charonn0@startrek.website 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Assistant prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri argued to have the case move forward, which was agreed to by Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak.

Name and shame these monsters.

[–] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There is a movie about jury nullification, ya? I tried looking it up but I can't remember enough details. It's from the mid 90s. About a gun case. Maybe helpful and required watching? Maybe I am off.

I am happy to hear she wasn't tried but it's terrible it got this far 😠

[–] evidences@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

It's "A Time to Kill" based on the novel by the same name from John Grisham.

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Reminds me a bit of Runaway Jury. Great film.