Woman eats poison, gets charged

Woman eats poison, gets charged

An attorney is denouncing murder and attempted feticide charges filed against an Indianapolis woman who tried to commit suicide while pregnant. Her child died as a result. Attorney Linda Pence, who's representing 34-year-old Bei Bei Shuai, said the charges are not only unwarranted, but they could prevent other troubled mothers from seeking the help they need. Pence said she plans to ask a Marion Superior Court judge to throw out the charges and allow Shuai to bond out of jail.

"The charges are outrageous," Pence said. "This is an abusive prosecution."

In a brief interview outside a courtroom this morning, David Rimstidt, chief deputy to Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, defended the charges.

He said the case was unique, but that the charges were appropriate given the facts.

Shuai admitted to ingesting rat poison during the late stages of her pregnancy last December. Friends took her to a hospital to get help.

Shuai gave birth to a daughter, Angel, who was put on life support but eventually was removed because doctors determined they couldn't help her.

Angel died Jan. 3 from bleeding in her brain, which was caused by the chemicals in the rat poison her mother ingested.

Prosecutors filed murder and attempted feticide charges against Shuai this week. She was arrested Monday and is being held without bond.

Pence said Shuai's intent was to kill herself, but her friends tried to save her despite her wish to die. Pence said Shuai was upset that her boyfriend -- the baby's father -- left her. She thought they were going to be married. She was also stressed from pressures at work.

"In December, she was vulnerable, isolated, depressed and obviously mentally unstable," Pence said.

Shuai held Angel until she died and then spent another month in the hospital recovering, Pence said. And now she's trying to deal with the criminal charges.

Pence worries those charges could deter other pregnant women from getting help if they need it because they might fear prosecution for their mistakes during pregnancy.

"If this mother had thought that she would be prosecuted for murder, she never would've gone to a hospital and she would've died," Pence said. "At least there was a chance that both (Shuai and her baby) could've lived."

She also said that these charges drift into a realm that courts and legislators have been afraid to enter: whether pregnant women should be prosecuted for engaging in activities that could be hazardous to their babies.

Anything from drinking coffee and hiking to consuming drugs and alcohol can be dangerous, but women aren't prosecuted for that, she said.

"Where does it stop?" she said. "What guidelines are there? None."

Source: indystar