Charges Dropped Against Pregnant Marshae Jones Who Was Shot In Stomach And Arrested For Killing Her Baby — While The Shooter Went Free
It's a slippery slope.
Pleasant Valley Police Department Now that the Democratic Debates have begun the 2020 Presidental elections are on everyone's minds. One of the biggest issues being discussed is that of a woman's right to choose. In this country under the Trump administration the rights instituted thanks to Roe V. Wade are more threatened than they have ever been before. For women and the people who love them, it's a serious issue.
A recent news story about a pregnant woman named Marshae Jones highlights the importance of this struggle. After getting into a fight with a friend, Jones was charged with manslaughter after she took gunfire to her pregnant belly, which killed the developing fetus inside of her. Let's be clear here —someone shot Marshae. Yet that shooter is free while she is being held on manslaughter charges. What the AF?! Here's what we know about her case and what people are doing to try and help her. Who is Marshae Jones? This story has just been updated — read on for all the new details!
1. What Happened?
On June 26th in Alabama, 27-year-old Marshae Jones was indicted by a grand jury on charges that are pretty apalling. Jones is accused of manslaughter after police say that she started an altercation that led to pregnant Jones being shot in the stomach, killing her five-month-old fetus. That's right: she made someone mad, got shot in the stomach, and was arrested for it.
While the policce involved in the case categorically acknowledge that Jones didn't fire the shots into her own stomach and deliberately kill her developing fetus, they believed that she was responsible for starting the fight with Ebony Jemison, the 23-year-old woman who was responsible for shooting Jones and prematurely ending her pregnancy.
2. Dismissed
When the incident first took place as soon as the police arrived on the scene and assessed the situation at hand they arrested Jemison and took her into custody for shooting Jones in the stomach with a charge of attempted murder. But once she was put in front of a court, the grand jury didn't indict her and the charges against her were dropped whereas Jones was only released from jail on a bond.
So what on Earth could cause two women to go after each other like this, and what could lead to such tragedy and such a bizarre legal outcome? Well, I'm sorry to say that in far too many respects, it is a tale as old as time. You see, according to the police who were investigating the case, the two women are believed to have been arguing about the man who got Jones pregnant.
3. The Police
Accoring to Pleasant Grove Lt. Danny Reid, while Jemison approached Jones in her car outside of a Dollar General Store and shot her in the stomach during their fight over the baby daddy, Jones was very much the one who escalted the situation. “Let’s not lose sight that the unborn baby is the victim here. She had no choice in being brought unnecessarily into a fight where she was relying on her mother for protection, said Reid.
Reid is making this a clear-cut issue that's straightforwardly about his own beliefs, going so far as to say that Jones WHO WAS SHOT IN THE STOMACH, wasn't a victim: “All indications and all evidence point to the fact of the victim or the mother of the unborn child was the aggressor, she is no longer listed as the victim, the only victim we have here is that unborn child,” Reid said to local CBS affiliate WIAT.
4. Jones' Role
Now that Jemison's involvement has been completely discounted from a legal perspective, Reid is pushing hard for retribution against Jones. “The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby. It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby," he said.
“When a five-month pregnant woman initiates a fight and attacks another person, I believe some responsibility lies with her as to any injury to her unborn child,” he also felt like he had to add. “That child is dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm, and she shouldn’t seek out unnecessary physical altercations.” I was always raised knowing that it takes two people to tango, meaning both Jemison and Jones hold some sort of responsibility here. Clearly my point of view is less common in the deep south.
5. Help
Jones does have allies who are supporting her. Perhaps mostly notably she has the Yellowhammer Foundation, which helps women gain access to abortion services, speaking out on her behalf and vowing to help her. “The state of Alabama has proven yet again that the moment a person becomes pregnant their sole responsibility is to produce a live, healthy baby and that it considers any action a pregnant person takes that might impede in that live birth to be a criminal act," Executive Director Amanda Reyes said in the statement.
“Today, Marshae Jones is being charged with manslaughter for being pregnant and getting shot while engaging in an altercation with a person who had a gun. Tomorrow, it will be another black woman, maybe for having a drink while pregnant. And after that, another, for not obtaining adequate prenatal care,” the statement also remarked, making it clear that yes, this is a very slippery slope.
6. Charges against Marshae Jones dropped
Sanity finally prevailed and on Wednesday, July 3rd prosecutors dropped all of the charges against Marshae Jones. In Alabama, a state with some pretty harsh—some would say backwards—laws, a fetus has he same rights as a child who has already been born. The grand jury was determined to hold someone accountable for the death of the five month old fetus and deemed the mother responsible. The manslaughter charges against Marshae Jones quickly drew national attention. District Attorney Lynneice Washington convened a small news conference on Wednesday to say that she had weighed the evidence and decided to dismiss the case. The reversal happened after Washington's office was flooded with angry calls and messages about the incredible injustice of arresting the woman who was shot while the person who acctually fired the gun and killed the fetus walked free.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.