The Mountain Road

The Defendant and his ex-wife divorced in September 1968 after sixteen years of marriage. Unknown to the Defendant, his ex-wife had been seeing another man and became pregnant by him. On February 23, 1969, his ex-wife was driving alone on a narrow mountain road in Amador County when another car forced her to stop. The Defendant stepped out of the other car and confronted his ex-wife. Seeing her visibly pregnant abdomen, the Defendant became enraged. According to his ex-wife, he told her "I'm going to stomp it out of you" and shoved his knee forcefully into her abdomen. After he left, his ex-wife sought help and underwent an emergency Caesarean section. The fetus was delivered stillborn. A pathologist determined the cause of death was skull fracture with cerebral hemorrhage, and that the injury was consistent with force applied to the mother's abdomen. The fetus was in the 35th week of gestation, weighed five pounds, was 18 inches long, and experts estimated a 75 to 96 percent chance of survival had it been delivered prematurely that day. The Defendant was charged with murder under California Penal Code § 187.