FRENCH COURT SAYS UNBORN CHILD KILLED IN ACCIDENT NOT VICTIM

PARIS, Jul 2, 01 (CWNews.com) - A French appeals court
ruled on Friday that a six-month-old unborn child killed in
a car crash by a drunk driver cannot be considered a victim
and the driver cannot be prosecuted for his death.

The country's highest appeal court upheld a lower court's
finding that the driver could not be charged with
second-degree murder because the baby, born dead soon after
the accident in 1995, was not legally a person. The driver,
Nicolas Calvente Rubio, received a two-year jail sentence,
with one year suspended, for involuntary homicide of the
child and causing bodily harm to his mother Sylvie
Grosmangin, who survived the crash.

A local appeals court in Metz overturned the murder
conviction on the grounds that an unborn child could not be
a victim. The high court agreed, saying French law "does not
allow the crime (of involuntary homicide) to be extended to
the case of an unborn child."