48°F
weather icon Mostly Clear
Las Vegas, NV
Nevada

Panel OKs amended fetus death bill

April 13, 2007 - 9:00 pm
 

CARSON CITY -- A Nevada Senate panel voted Thursday for an amended bill dealing with criminal charges when a fetus is killed.

Under current law, a person who willfully kills an "unborn quick child" can be charged with felony manslaughter. The sponsor of SB299, Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, said that law isn't good enough because there are cases it doesn't cover.

Hardy said the existing law didn't apply to a constituent who miscarried after being injured by a drunken driver who hit her car. The offender was charged with a DUI with substantial bodily harm, a felony. But Hardy said it was an insufficient punishment.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-2 to pass an amended version that would allow a person who kills a fetus during the commission of a crime to be charged whether the fetus's death was willful or not.

THE LATEST
The Nevada State Legislature Building in Carson City. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
How did Carson City become Nevada’s state capital?
By Jessica Hill / RJ

Newcomers to Nevada might be surprised to learn the state’s capital isn’t in the most populous area of Las Vegas, or even the “biggest little city” of Reno.

Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, asks a question during an Education Committee meeting i ...
Former Nevada Speaker dies after long career in public service
By Jessica Hill / RJ

Former Nevada Speaker John Hambrick, a Republican assemblyman who championed the fight against human trafficking and took up the torch for juvenile offenders, has died. He was 79.