Opinion ID: 733298
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Determination of United States District Court

Text: 51 In Ford v. Ahitow, 888 F.Supp. 909 (C.D.Ill.1995), the district court granted Mr. Ford's petition for writ of habeas corpus. The court began with the principle that the essential element of homicide is that the victim was alive prior to the criminal act. Id. at 914. After summarizing the evidence presented, the court stated the standard for reviewing a habeas petition as set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979): A petitioner is required to show that the state failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It recognized that, under Jackson, it must view that evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, and may not make a subjective determination of the facts on its own. Id. It then concluded that the overwhelming weight of the medical testimony shows that Karonda's fetus was dead before Ford kicked her. Id. 52 The court demonstrated the overwhelming weight of that evidence by referring to the testimony of Drs. Fernandez, Dubrick and Matviuw, who found that the skull overlap and edema in the fetus' tissue showed that the fetus had been dead for some time. The court next explained that the theory the trial court must have accepted in order to convict Ford, is that the fetus was alive when Ford kicked Karonda in the abdomen, and that the kick caused a tear in the placenta. Id. at 915. However, according to the district court, Dr. Gilbert offered the only physician-based evidence that a live fetus had been killed by a placental tear and hemorrhaging, and her testimony was discredited because her trial testimony was in direct conflict with her first medical opinion. The district court stated that Dr. Gilbert contradicted herself on the crucial point in the case and that her change of opinion from 72 to 48 hours was done not to clarify ... and not based on new data or new information ... [but] to make it compatible with Ford committing homicide. Id. at 916. The court concluded that the prosecution's theory was not supported by the evidence. It also pointed out that Dr. Gilbert's claim--that the hemorrhage in Karonda's placenta was obvious--wasn't obvious to four doctors, three who saw the ultrasound, and one who saw the deceased fetus and the expelled placenta. Id. In light of the overwhelming evidence that the fetus had died some time prior to the fight between Karonda and Ford, the court decided that [t]his is one of those rare instances where it is the duty of the federal court to grant the writ of habeas corpus based on insufficient evidence. Id. 53 Reasonable doubt as to whether Ford's kick caused the death of the fetus must exist. Even if one looks at all the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, there is at least a reasonable doubt as to whether the fetus was alive at 6:00 p.m. on September 17. Without support for the essential element of a live victim, a homicide conviction violates due process and requires federal habeas relief. 54 Id. at 917. The district court ordered that the petition for writ of habeas corpus be allowed. II