Photo: Grove Police Department
A manslaughter charge will be dismissed against Marshae Jones,the 27-year-old Alabama womanwhose fetus died when she was shot during a fight with another woman in December.
Washington said “there are no winners, only losers, in this sad ordeal.”
Jones’s attorney Mark White applauded the district attorney’s decision.
“We were pleased,” he tells PEOPLE. “It is a little bittersweet, but today it is at least a little more sweet than bitter. This was totally unprecedented and hopefully it will stand alone and never be repeated.”
Jones was five months pregnant last December when she got into a fight with a woman outside the Dollar General in Pleasant Grove, Alabama.
She didn’t fire the gun, but according to law enforcement at the time, she started the fight and was therefore responsible. “It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight,” Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid,told AL.comat the time of the shooting.
The Washington Postreportedthat police said the shooter, 23-year-old Ebony Jemison, acted in self-defense. Originally, Jemison was charged with manslaughter, but the grand jury didn’t indict her, and the charge was dismissed,the AP reported.
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TheNew York Timesreported that Alabama is one of 38 states that have fetal homicide laws recognizing the fetus as a victim when there is violence against a pregnant woman.
In a statement posted to Twitter reacting to Jones’ arrest,the National Abortion Foundation, a professional association of abortion providers, said, “This is how people — especially women of color — are already being punished & having their pregnancies criminalized.”
source: people.com
