An Alabama prosecutor has reportedly decided she won't prosecute a woman who was charged in the death of her fetus after being shot in the stomach.
Jefferson County-Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington said Wednesday it wouldn't be in the interest of justice to pursue charges against Marshae Jones in a "disturbing and heartbreaking case,” the Daily Beast reported.
Jones was five months pregnant when 23-year-old Ebony Jemison shot her in the stomach during a December altercation over the fetus's father, authorities said.
Jemison was initially charged with manslaughter, but a Jefferson County grand jury declined to indict her after police said an investigation determined Jones started the fight, and that Jemison fired in self-defense. Jones, 28, was indicted last month.
The indictment stated Jones did "intentionally cause the death" of "Unborn Baby Jones by initiating a fight knowing she was five months pregnant."
On Wednesday, Jones’s lawyers said they were “pleased with the district attorney’s decision to dismiss the charges against Marshae Jones” and “gratified the district attorney evaluated the matter and chose not to proceed with a case that was neither reasonable nor just,” the news outlet reported.”
A 2006 Alabama law allows homicide charges to be brought when a fetus or embryo is killed. The law was named "Brody's Law" on behalf of the unborn son of Brandy Parker, who was nearly nine months pregnant when she was shot and killed in 2005. Lawmakers said at the time that would allow for two murder charges when a pregnant woman is killed.
The Jones case had reignited debate over such fetal personhood laws. Alabama is just one of 38 states that allow fetuses to be classified as victims in homicides or assaults.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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