Current:Home > BackNew Hampshire charges 1st person in state with murder in the death of a fetus-InfoLens
New Hampshire charges 1st person in state with murder in the death of a fetus
View Date:2024-12-23 11:31:27
OSSIPEE, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man appeared in court Monday on charges that he killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child by means of multiple blunt force injuries, the first time the state has charged someone with murder in the death of a fetus.
William Kelly, 28, appeared in Carroll County Superior Court in Ossipee with his lawyer, Caroline Smith. He did not address the judge. Smith said she planned to file paperwork that Kelly was waiving his arraignment and pleading not guilty. An email seeking comment was left for Smith.
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Mitchell Weinberg determined that Christine Falzone, 33, was about 35 to 37 weeks pregnant at the time of her death in December.
The Legislature passed a bill in 2017 that defines a fetus at 20 weeks of development and beyond as a person for purposes of criminal prosecution of murder. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill into law. It took effect in 2018.
Kelly’s case is the first time the state had charged someone with murder in the death of a fetus, said Michael Garrity, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Kelly was indicted by a Carroll County grand jury on Friday on two counts of second-degree murder. He recklessly caused the deaths of Falzone and her fetus, according to the indictment.
Lawyers said they were waiting on forensic test results. They agreed to schedule a hearing in June and a potential trial date in 2025.
Kelly, who was being held without bail, has several criminal convictions. The most recent was for assault in 2019, police said.
Kelly initially was arrested in December on a single second-degree murder charge connected to Falzone’s death.
Police said they found Falzone unconscious and not breathing at the Ossipee home she shared with Kelly. It was not immediately known if Kelly was the father of the unborn child.
veryGood! (78876)
Related
- 2 credit unions in Mississippi and Louisiana are planning to merge
- Witnesses describe vehicle explosion at U.S.-Canada border: I never saw anything like it
- Bananas Foster, berries and boozy: Goose Island 2023 Bourbon County Stouts out Black Friday
- 8 Family Members Killed in 4 Locations: The Haunting Story Behind The Pike County Murders
- Deommodore Lenoir contract details: 49ers ink DB to $92 million extension
- The Excerpt podcast: How to navigate politics around the dinner table this holiday
- Peru lost more than half of its glacier surface in just over half a century, scientists say
- Utah Tech women’s hoops coach suspended for 2 games after investigation based on player complaints
- Eva Longoria Shares She and Her Family Have Moved Out of the United States
- Sister Wives' Christine and Janelle Brown Reveal When They Knew Their Marriages to Kody Were Over
Ranking
- Saks Fifth Avenue’s holiday light display in Manhattan changing up this season
- 4-day truce begins in Israel-Hamas war, sets stage for release of dozens of Gaza-held hostages
- Erin Foster Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Husband Simon Tikhman
- D-backs acquire 3B Eugenio Suárez from Mariners in exchange for two players
- Maine elections chief who drew Trump’s ire narrates House tabulations in livestream
- Dolly Parton is Cowboys' halftime star for Thanksgiving: How to watch, livestream
- El Nino-worsened flooding has Somalia in a state of emergency. Residents of one town are desperate
- Hundreds of German police raid properties of Hamas supporters in Berlin and across the country
Recommendation
-
Shaboozey to headline halftime show of Lions-Bears game on Thanksgiving
-
Closing arguments in Vatican trial seek to expose problems in the city state’s legal system
-
Notre Dame honored transfer QB Sam Hartman, and his former coach at Wake Forest hated it
-
Amazon's Black Friday game will be experience unlike what NFL fans have seen before
-
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas says he was detained in airport over being ‘disoriented’
-
Sweet potato memories: love 'em, rely on 'em ... hate 'em
-
Sweet potato memories: love 'em, rely on 'em ... hate 'em
-
South Korea says Russian support likely enabled North Korea to successfully launch a spy satellite