A pregnant woman who lost her baby after being shot in the stomach has been indicted for manslaughter by an Alabama grand jury.
The Jefferson County grand jury reasoned that since Marshae Jones, 27, allegedly initiated the altercation leading to the shooting, she should be held responsible for the unborn child’s death.
But the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office Bessemer Division told CNN affiliate WBRC that it still has not decided whether to prosecute Jones.
“While the Grand Jury has had its say, our office is in the process of evaluating this case and has not yet made a determination about whether to prosecute it as a manslaughter case, reduce it to a lesser charge or not to prosecute it,” DA Lynneice Washington said. “We will announce our decision only after all due diligence has been performed.”
Jones was five months pregnant in December when she got into a fight with another woman outside a Dollar General store in Pleasant Grove, just west of Birmingham, according to the CNN affiliate. AL.com quoted authorities saying the dispute involved the baby’s father.
“It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby,” Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid told AL.com shortly after the shooting. He said the fight caused the other woman, Ebony Jemison, to react and defend herself.
“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,” Reid told AL.com.
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