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Family members of murdered pregnant women gave a voice to their ongoing cause to get stricter murder laws in the state Saturday.
"My daughter and her unborn child were brutally murdered," said Michele Dye, whose daughter, Lucy Johnson, was 15 months pregnant when she was murdered.
Dye said current North Carolina law is not making her daughter's killer pay.
For ten years, victim's families have pushed for a new law to charge a person with two counts of murder if they kill a pregnant woman.
Current state law allows for only one murder count.
"We cannot stop all violent crimes, but we can make our laws tougher," Dye said.
Dye and other parents of murdered pregnant women are campaigning through out the state to get a law passed increasing the charges if someone kills a pregnant woman.
Kevin Blaine's daughter, Jenna Nielsen, was killed in 2007 while she was 8 months pregnant.
The killer has not been found.
"The bill simply makes sense," Blaine said. "What i prefer to call, common sense."
Opponents say a murder law designed specifically for pregnant women is not needed.
Under current state law, if a person knowingly murders a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage or still birth they are automatically charged with a higher class felony than the actual crime.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina is on the record opposing a change in the law.
"We already have a way to deal with it so this new bill is completely unnecessary," ACLU lobbyist Sarah Preston said.
Some opponents also say the passage of this bill could interfere with a woman's legal right to an abortion.
Supporters of the bill we spoke with today call the claim "ridiculous" saying abortion is legal, but murder is not
For more than five years in North Carolina, the bill has died in committee but these family members still have hope.
"We are demanding that they at least, at the very least, allow a vote to take place in the North Carolina house," Jeff Gerber, founder of the "justice for all Coalition," said.
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By JEFF GERBER on 11/15 07:10 PM
On Wednesday, July 16, 2008, a 911 call was placed by Lucy Johnson's neighbors, reporting a fire at 4844 Hidden Meadow Court, in Gastonia, North Carolina. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze and police and firefighters found Lucy Johnson's burned body in her bedroom. Johnson had been shot twice in the back of the head, her home and body burned. Johnson's body was found partially clothed. Johnson had been raped and her engagement ring missing. Lucy Johnson was the mother of a 7 year old daughter and a 6-month old son. Johnson also was 4-month pregnant with Michael Mead's child Michael Mead, Lucy Johnson's fiance, was arrested on Friday, January 9, 2009, for the July 16, 2008, murder of Lucy Johnson. On Monday, January 12, 2009, Mead appeared in District Court, before Judge Michael Lands, for a bond hearing and was denied bond. On Friday, January 16, 2009, Mead appeared a second time before Judge Michael Lands and was again denied bond. On Monday, January 19, 2009, the Grand Jury indicted Mead on first degree murder, first degree rape, first degree arson, and first degree burglary. On Monday, February 23, 2009, Mead had another bond hearing in Superior Court. Judge Richard Boner granted Mead bond. The bond was set at six hundred fifty-thousand dollars, even though District Attorney Bill Stetzer told Judge Boner that he believed Mead to be a flight risk due to him seeking employment in Mexico. Stetzer stated that Mead had an established pattern of abusive behavior toward women. Stetzer told that Johnson had been raped and the amount of semen found in Johnson was that of a fresh rape. The semen matched Mead's DNA. Michael Mead was able to pay the bond and can now travel to any county surrounding Gaston County. If the Grand Jury found enough evidence for an indictment on a capital murder charge, Why is this man free to roam the streets? Part of the problem is North Carolina doesn't have a law where an unborn child can be considered a victim. If Mead was charged with 2 counts of murder, as he certainty should have been, he probably would still be incarcerated throughout his trial. This is an example why "The Justice For All Coalition," will continue to lobby for passage of "The Unborn Victims Of Violence Bill," simply described as when an offender knowingly murders a pregnant victim, they will be charged with two counts of murder versus one as is now North Carolina law. We intend to send a clear message that if someone is in a troubled relationship with their pregnant partner and chooses murder over paying child support, they will face an additional charge of murder. Jeff Gerber Monroe,NC
By Jeff Gerber on 11/07 09:26 AM
North Carolina law makers have introduced the Unborn victims of violence bill for the past five sessions only to see it languish in committee. Modeled after the federal bill known as the Laci and Conner Peterson Act. The Unborn Victims Of Violence Bill says that a person who commits the crime of murder or manslaughter of a pregnant woman is guilty of a separate offense for the resulting death of the unborn child. A national poll shows that when asked the question "If a criminal assaults a woman who carries an unborn child, does that crime have two victims or only one? 80 percent of respondents say "two." The federal government and 36 states have laws to prosecute the unlawful killing of an unborn child, laws that have been upheld by numerous federal and state courts. And yet, in North Carolina, the issue hasn't even been debated on the house floor, thanks in part to two powerful groups, the pro-abortion lobby and domestic violence advocates, and a committee chair who has not allowed the issue to be heard. The fetal homicide bill does not conflict with the Roe ruling. Lets quit looking for any excuse not to pass this law. This is not about abortion. They want women to have a choice-well these women who were murdered had a choice and chose to have their babies. Then that choice was taken away. Rep. Deborah Ross, who chairs the Committee on Judiciary I, where the bill remains says: "She refused to hear the study bill that would have opened the door for those types of discussion. As for the senate side, Senate Bills S-13 and S-26, a very similar measure which also wound up in the senate Judiciary I committee, chaired by Sen. Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncombe). The only thing that will get the bills out of the committee and to the floor will be a word from senate and house leadership to the respective committee chairs. Calls and letters to Senate Pro Tempore Marc Basnight and house speaker Joe Hackney, especially from bill supporters in every district, might bring needed pressure to move the bill along. Although the bill's primary sponsors are Republicans,"The Unborn Victims Of Violence Act" is not a partisan issue. People say they are lifelong democrats, pro-choice, liberal democrats who supports the bill. People get reduced sentences too often and a fetal homicide bill would help prevent that. Many of us feel that if you also could be convicted or tried for the death of the fetus, that you would probably get a guarantee that these people would serve some serious time. The current laws North Carolina now has in place do not even come close to being strong enough. The current law states that any person, who in the commission of a felony, causes injury to a woman, knowing the woman to be pregnant, in which injury results in the miscarriage or stillbirth by the woman is guilty of a felony that is one class higher than the felony committed. We were very successful when we organized the "Coalition for Jessica's Law." After two years of delay, Jessica's law was finally signed by the Governor. We have now organized the "Justice for All coalition" with the hopes of getting this bill signed into law after so many years of delay. It's passed time that we pay tribute to the young women where the Judicial system has failed them such as, Michelle Younge, 29, who was four months pregnant with her second child. Young's sister found her beaten to death on the bedroom floor. She was lying in a pool of blood with her 2-year-old daughter who was unharmed, by her side. Janet Abaroa was found stabbed to death in her Durham home in April of 2005. Jennifer Neilson was pregnant with her third child, she was murdered in Raleigh at 8 months pregnant. Maria Lauterback's unborn child had been buried with her, in the fire pit where the killer tried to destroy the evidence by setting both bodies ablaze. Megan Lynn Touma, another military woman. The Fort Bragg soldier, seven months pregnant was found dead in June. Lucy Johnson, from Gastonia and 20 year old Leeanna Newman of Landis,NC.
By cwalton on 11/02 01:13 AM
15 months pregnant? Could you be anymore disrespectful to this murder victim?
By Mike on 10/31 08:49 PM
It actually smells like a backdoor anti-abortion bill, attempting to establish new rights for a fetus. Not that anyone would admit that was their goal.
By Dismas on 10/31 07:53 PM
Lucy Johnson was 15 months pregnent? I am not understand what this law will accomplish. No disrespect to the victims or their families but I don't see the purpose at all. If someone gets the death penalty for murder what is it that's being sought, two executions? It makes no sense such as serving someone like 140 years. This law would not change the situation in the Blaine's case so I don't see the purpose. How about focusing on prevention. Money better spent.
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