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September 12, 2005
OR: Judge- Mother Can't Be Charged for Passing Meth to Her Fetus
Judge: Mom can’t be charged for passing meth to her fetus
BEND (AP) — A 19-year-old Bend woman charged with passing methamphetamine to her infant through her umbilical cord cannot be prosecuted under Oregon law, a judge has ruled.
“While this court believes the use of methamphetamine by a pregnant woman is a moral outrage against one’s child, this court concludes nevertheless that it is not a crime under Oregon law,” Deschutes County District Court Judge Stephen Tiktin said Thursday, dismissing the charges.
An indictment was filed against Mary Lou Cervantes last year, after her baby tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the testimony of a Bend police detective.
Because health care providers are required by law to report suspected child abuse, hospital workers contacted the state Department of Human Services when the baby was born in September 2004, and employees from that agency, in turn, contacted police.
The young mother was charged with causing a person to ingest a controlled substance, applying a controlled substance to a minor and recklessly endangering another.
Cervantes’ attorney, Karla Nash, asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that her client had not committed a crime under Oregon law. Oregon statutes, she said, do not sufficiently inform pregnant women who ingest controlled substances that they can be prosecuted if their babies test positive for drugs after birth.
Cervantes’ lawyer said that any drugs that were in her system were taken before the child was born, constituting prenatal exposure — and Oregon law does not provide protection for a fetus in criminal cases.
Posted by lois at September 12, 2005 08:30 PM