Post by Moses on May 27, 2005 19:44:08 GMT -5
West Palm Beach woman charged over daughter's abortion
Associated Press
Posted May 26 2005, 7:50 AM EDT [/size]
WEST PALM BEACH -- A woman has been charged with evidence tampering and child neglect after arranging an abortion for her 17-year-old daughter during an incest investigation.
The girl's 40-year-old stepfather was charged Friday with familial sexual battery. The 33-year-old mother also was arrested. Both are free on $5,000 bond. The girl and her sister have been placed in state custody.
Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives wanted to perform a paternity test on the fetus as part of the investigation, but they say the mother took her daughter to a Broward County clinic for an abortion without notifying them.
``She was protecting her daughter and her husband, thinking we would not have any evidence and would not be able to pursue it,'' sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said Wednesday.
But Jack Fleischman, a criminal defense lawyer, questions the strength of the case against the mother, saying investigators should have obtained a court order.
``I don't think the mother under those circumstances is required to cooperate with police,'' he said.
The state attorney's office will decide later whether to pursue the charges filed by the sheriff's office.
The girl claimed that her stepfather had impregnated her late last year, and authorities say he had another sexual encounter with her in April.
Associated Press
Posted May 26 2005, 7:50 AM EDT [/size]
WEST PALM BEACH -- A woman has been charged with evidence tampering and child neglect after arranging an abortion for her 17-year-old daughter during an incest investigation.
The girl's 40-year-old stepfather was charged Friday with familial sexual battery. The 33-year-old mother also was arrested. Both are free on $5,000 bond. The girl and her sister have been placed in state custody.
Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives wanted to perform a paternity test on the fetus as part of the investigation, but they say the mother took her daughter to a Broward County clinic for an abortion without notifying them.
``She was protecting her daughter and her husband, thinking we would not have any evidence and would not be able to pursue it,'' sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said Wednesday.
But Jack Fleischman, a criminal defense lawyer, questions the strength of the case against the mother, saying investigators should have obtained a court order.
``I don't think the mother under those circumstances is required to cooperate with police,'' he said.
The state attorney's office will decide later whether to pursue the charges filed by the sheriff's office.
The girl claimed that her stepfather had impregnated her late last year, and authorities say he had another sexual encounter with her in April.