Baseball Bat Abortion

Teen: Girl consented to abortion with bat

Lawyer asks judge to dismiss charge against 16-year-old Richmond boy.

By Jim Lynch / The Detroit News

A 16-year-old Richmond boy could not have assaulted his girlfriend because she consented to being beaten with a miniature baseball bat to induce her miscarriage, his attorney argued Tuesday.

The boy faces a felony charge of intentional conduct against a pregnant individual resulting in miscarriage or stillbirth, which could result in his remaining in custody until age 21.

He is alleged to have struck his 16-year-old Armada Township girlfriend in the stomach over three weeks.

Defense attorney Miranda Massie made arguments to support her request for a dismissal in the case. Judge Matt Switalski is expected to rule later on the argument.

"If you consent, there is no assault, plain and simple," she said, adding, "there is no Michigan law to the contrary."

By asking her "best friend and boyfriend" to hit her with the bat, Massie argued the girl, now 17, was exercising her right to have an abortion.

Therese Tobin, chief trial attorney for the Macomb Prosecutor's Office, said there is no state law that says a person can consent to battery. And she added, "a person is not free to get an abortion at certain stages without public intervention."

The judge questioned whether the girl, at 16, was in a position to offer her consent.

"Did she enter into a valid contract?" he asked. "... In essence, she's getting herself an abortion without availing herself of what the Legislature says she has to do."

Switalski asked the defense to submit answers to a series of questions concerning the consent argument by April 8.

Defense attorneys also plan to use the cause of death as a basis for dismissing the charges. Switalski did not hear arguments on that issue Tuesday.

In January, Macomb County Medical Examiner Dr. Daniel Spitz ruled the fetus died of premature birth associated with trauma to the mother.

In a brief filed earlier this month, Massie argued that there is no scientific way to determine exactly what caused the miscarriage in this case.

"Causation of miscarriage and fetal death defies scientific determination more than 50 percent of the time," she wrote.

"In this case, there was no prenatal medical care or observation and no medical care or observation at the time of the miscarriage, making reliable assessment of the cause of (the girl's) miscarriage impossible."

You can reach Jim Lynch at (586) 468-0520 or jlynch@detnews.com.

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