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First capital sentencing for aggravated murder of an unborn child?

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

In Ohio, a jury Friday morning found Bobby Cutts Jr. guilty of killing his pregnant lover and their unborn baby. In a strange twist, the jury did not convict Cutts in the aggravated “death eligible” murder of Jessie Davis, but rather the lesser included crime of murder. The jury convicted Cutts, however, of the aggravated murder of Ms. Davis’s unborn baby, Chloe. Cutts will now face a capital sentencing trial for the death of his unborn child. This appears to be the first death eligible murder verdict (or at least the first I am aware of) that will proceed to the capital sentencing phase based solely on the murder of an unborn child with aggravating factors. What might be helpful for those struggling with the issues raised in Cutts would be to look at an opinion handling a similar issue in a noncapital fetal homicide case by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (majority opinion and concurring opinion) earlier this week...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).