## Facts

- Donald Thomas Wickstrom assaulted his mother, Gayle Gonsoir, and his former girlfriend, Cynthia Hall, who was eight months pregnant with his child.
- The assault followed an argument over money; Wickstrom hit both women, pulled their hair, and repeatedly kicked Hall with hard-toed boots, including kicks to her abdomen.
- Hall’s young child witnessed part of the assault, and a bystander’s intervention allowed Hall to escape.
- Hall was hospitalized; fetal distress was detected, and a Cesarean section delivered a stillborn fetus.
- Wickstrom claimed heavy drinking and lack of intent to hit the women; other witnesses and police did not observe significant intoxication.
- Hall and Gonsoir testified Wickstrom did not intend to cause an abortion, but the court found the assault caused fetal distress and death.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the indictment to be amended from Minn. Stat. § 145.412, subd. 3, to subd. 1 after subdivision 3 was deemed unconstitutional.
2. Whether Wickstrom’s violent assault fell within “criminal abortion” under Minn. Stat. § 145.412, subd. 1.
3. Whether § 145.412, subd. 1 requires proof of a specific intent to terminate a pregnancy.
4. Whether alleged negligence by hospital staff constituted an intervening, superseding cause relieving Wickstrom of liability for the fetal death.
5. Whether a 2.5-times upward departure for first-degree assault was an abuse of discretion.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the convictions for first-degree assault, criminal abortion under § 145.412, subd. 1, and fifth-degree assault, and affirmed the sentence.
- The indictment amendment was permitted because it did not charge a substantively different offense and did not prejudice substantial rights under Minn. R. Crim. P. 17.05.
- The criminal-abortion statute applied to non-medical, violent conduct that unlawfully results in termination of pregnancy.
- The statute did not require a purpose to terminate pregnancy; an intentional unlawful act that results in termination was sufficient.
- Medical treatment was not a superseding cause because there was no showing of gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing by hospital staff.
- The upward departure was supported by aggravating factors, including the victim’s pregnancy, the brutality and persistence of the assault, and the presence of a child.

## Legal Principles

- An indictment may be amended before trial if the amendment does not charge an additional or different offense in substance and does not prejudice the defendant’s substantial rights.  
- Minn. Stat. § 145.412, subd. 1 applies to intentional unlawful acts causing termination of pregnancy, including violent assaults outside any medical setting.
- For criminal abortion under § 145.412, subd. 1, the required mental state is intent to commit the unlawful act; a specific intent to end the pregnancy is not required if termination results.
- Subsequent medical care breaks criminal causation only when third-party conduct constitutes gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing; ordinary negligence does not supersede the defendant’s causal responsibility.
- A substantial upward sentencing departure may be upheld when multiple aggravating factors show markedly greater seriousness than the typical offense, including victim vulnerability and extreme brutality.

## Conclusion

The court sustained the amended charging decision, construed Minnesota’s criminal-abortion statute to cover violent acts causing pregnancy termination without requiring a purpose to abort, rejected intervening-cause arguments based on alleged medical negligence short of gross negligence, and affirmed a substantial upward departure for an exceptionally aggravated assault on a visibly pregnant victim in the presence of a child.


State v. Wickstrom, 405 N.W.2d 1 (Minn. Ct. App. 1987)