No Indictment in Fetus-Abuse Cocaine Case
ROCKFORD, Ill. — A grand jury refused to indict a mother for manslaughter in her infant’s death, which was linked to alleged cocaine use during pregnancy, authorities said Friday.
Prosecutors had charged Melanie Green, 24, with involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, a charge usually used against street-corner drug dealers.
A Winnebago County grand jury that met Thursday did not indict her on any charge, State’s Atty. Paul Logli said.
Green’s 2-day-old baby, Bianca, died Feb. 4. Cocaine was found in Bianca’s system and in her mother’s, said Dr. P. John Seward, the county coroner. The drug was carried through the placenta to the fetus, reducing Bianca’s ability to accept oxygen from the mother and resulting in brain damage.
Logli had characterized that process as delivery of a controlled substance.
In a similar case, another mother in this northern Illinois city of 140,000 was convicted May 1 of prenatal child abuse for using cocaine throughout her pregnancy, including the hours right before she gave birth. That child survived.
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