Facts
- Treva LaNan Hughes drove while intoxicated and crossed into oncoming traffic, colliding with a vehicle driven by Reesa Poole.
- Poole was nine months pregnant and expected to deliver within days.
- The collision was violent enough that Poole’s abdomen struck the steering wheel with such force that the steering wheel broke.
- Poole was transported to the hospital, where doctors performed an emergency cesarean section.
- Upon delivery, the baby’s only sign of life was an extremely slow heartbeat; the baby otherwise lacked blood pressure and respiratory function and was described as brain dead.
- Medical personnel attempted resuscitation, but the efforts were unsuccessful and the baby died shortly after delivery.
- The State charged Hughes with first-degree manslaughter (homicide committed while engaged in a misdemeanor) and driving under the influence while involved in a personal-injury accident.
- A jury convicted Hughes. The court imposed an eight-year prison sentence for manslaughter and a six-month suspended sentence for the DUI–personal-injury offense.
- Hughes appealed, arguing that the baby was not a “human being” who could be the subject of homicide under Oklahoma law.
Issues
- Whether, under Oklahoma’s common-law “born alive” rule, an infant delivered after prenatal injuries—showing only an extremely slow heartbeat and dying shortly thereafter—was “born alive” and therefore a “human being” for purposes of Oklahoma’s homicide statutes.
Decision
- The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgment and sentences.
- The court held that Oklahoma retains the common-law “born alive” rule and applied it to determine whether the victim could be the subject of homicide.
- The court concluded the baby satisfied the born-alive rule because the baby was completely expelled from the mother’s body (delivered by cesarean section) and showed a sign of life—an extremely slow heartbeat—after delivery.
- Because the infant was “born alive,” the infant qualified as a “human being” within the meaning of Oklahoma homicide law, and the manslaughter conviction could stand.
Legal Principles
- Oklahoma incorporates the common law in criminal cases unless it is inconsistent with state statutes.
- Under the common-law “born alive” rule, a child cannot be the victim of homicide until (1) complete expulsion from the mother’s body and (2) the child is alive and has independent existence.
- For purposes of the born-alive rule, a post-delivery sign of life such as a heartbeat may be sufficient even if the infant lacks respiration, blood pressure, or meaningful brain function and survives only briefly.
- If a child is born alive and then dies from injuries inflicted before birth, homicide liability may attach because the victim at death is a living human being under the rule.
Conclusion
The court affirmed Hughes’s first-degree manslaughter conviction, holding that Oklahoma’s born-alive rule remained in force and was satisfied where the baby was delivered by cesarean section and showed a heartbeat after birth, making the infant a “human being” who could be the victim of homicide.