Methamphetamine:
Third
Murder
Trial
for
Woman
in
California
Methamphetamine
Poisoning
Infant
Death
Case
8/18/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/449/california_methamphetamine_pregnancy_court_retrial.shtml
A California woman whose infant son died with methamphetamine in his system will face a third murder trial, a Riverside County Judge ruled Monday. Amy Leanne Prien was convicted of second-degree murder in her son's death in 2003, but that conviction was overturned by an appeals court citing flawed jury instructions. A retrial ended in a mistrial in June after jurors deadlocked 6-6.
After the mistrial, Prien's lawyers moved to dismiss the charge, but Judge Patrick Magers declined. "It is abundantly clear to the court that the cause of death of the victim was methamphetamine intoxication," he said from the bench as he rejected the motion.
What is not so clear is where the meth in the child's system came from. Prosecutors have argued that Prien, an admitted long-time meth user, caused her child's death by feeding him her breast milk when she was using the popular stimulant. They argued that Prien continued smoking meth while breast-feeding, a charge she has consistently denied. She has suggested that a male guest in her home may have provided the drug to the baby.
A major problem for the prosecution is that the bottle of milk found beside the dead baby was misplaced by law enforcement and never tested for the presence of methamphetamine. And while Prien was tested and came back positive for meth, police never tested her breast milk. Los Angeles attorney Joe Reichmann, who is representing Prien, argued futilely that the charge should be dropped because it was based on "make-believe science" since prosecutors had no way of knowing the meth levels in her breast milk.
California prosecutors have repeatedly proven unable to make meth mother murder cases stick, and it is unclear why they are pursuing Prien with such a vengeance. It's not like she got off scot-free. In addition to losing her child, she is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for felony child endangerment in the same case.
-- END --
Issue #449
-- 8/18/06
Editorial:
There's
Always
Another
Drug
Cartel...
|
Feature:
Colorado
Marijuana
Possession
Legalization
Initiative
Makes
the
Ballot
|
Feature:
"Beyond
Zero
Tolerance"
Conference
Aims
to
Provide
New
Paradigm
for
Educators
|
Feature:
SSDP,
Drug
War
Rant
Blog
Score
Media
Hit
With
Attack
on
DEA
Drug-Terror
Exhibit
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Latin
America:
US
Feds
Bust
Major
Mexican
Trafficker,
Expect
Violence,
Continued
Drug
Trafficking
as
Result
|
Harm
Reduction:
Global
Harm
Reductionists
Issue
Urgent
Declaration
Calling
for
Action
on
Drug
Use
and
HIV
|
Methamphetamine:
One
Month
in
One
Texas
County
Courthouse
Opens
a
Window
on
the
Drug
War
Version
2.006
|
Methamphetamine:
Third
Murder
Trial
for
Woman
in
California
Methamphetamine
Poisoning
Infant
Death
Case
|
Southwest
Asia:
Afghan
Opium
Cultivation
Jumps
to
Record
Level
|
Europe:
British
Public
Supports
More
Rational
Drug
Policies,
Survey
Says
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|