## Facts

- John Soto allegedly drove while under the influence of alcohol and with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.10.
- Soto allegedly entered an intersection negligently and struck a vehicle driven by Jannet Anne Johnson, who was 8½ months pregnant.
- Johnson suffered serious injuries, including a fractured pelvis and a fractured femur.
- At the hospital, initial testing showed the fetus had a heartbeat; hours later, no fetal heartbeat was detected, and the fetus was delivered stillborn by Caesarean section.
- The fetus was a normally developed male estimated at 36–38 weeks gestation; the medical examiner attributed the stillbirth to head trauma from the collision.
- A grand jury indicted Soto under Minn. Stat. § 609.21 (1984) on four counts: two for injury to Johnson and two for causing the death of the fetus.
- The district court dismissed the two counts alleging death, concluding the fetus was not a “human being” within the meaning of § 609.21, and the State appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an 8½-month-old viable fetus that dies in utero and is delivered stillborn is a “human being” under Minn. Stat. § 609.21 (1984) for purposes of criminal vehicular operation resulting in death.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the pretrial dismissal of the vehicular-homicide counts related to the fetus’s death.
- The court held that a viable fetus that dies in utero is not a “human being” within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 609.21 (1984).
- The ruling left intact the remaining counts concerning injury to the mother.

## Legal Principles

- Criminal statutes are strictly construed in favor of the accused; courts will not expand criminal liability beyond clear legislative language.
- Absent express statutory inclusion, the term “human being” in Minnesota’s criminal vehicular-homicide statute did not extend to an unborn fetus that was not born alive.
- Statutory context matters: when the legislature intends to address fetuses or unborn children, it typically does so explicitly, and courts treat the absence of such language as significant.
- Any policy change to include fetal deaths within homicide-type offenses is for the legislature to enact, not for courts to create through interpretation.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that Minn. Stat. § 609.21 (1984) did not cover the in utero death of a viable fetus because the statute’s reference to the “death of a human being” required a victim born alive, and expanding the statute to include fetal death required legislative action.


State v. Soto, 378 N.W.2d 625 (Minn. 1985)