SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Attorneys for a Granger woman seeking to overturn her conviction in the death of her premature infant have argued prosecutors relied on an “absurd” use of the state’s feticide law.
Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison in March. Prosecutors said she took drugs from China to end her pregnancy rather go through a medical abortion. Two law professors are representing the 35-year-old woman. They filed a brief on her behalf with the Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday.
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The South Bend Tribune reports that Patel’s attorneys argued the state’s feticide law was never meant to prosecute women who have illegal abortions. They also argued prosecutors used faulty evidence.
It was in July of 2013 when authorities found Patel’s infant in a trash dumpster behind Moe’s Southwest restaurant in Mishawaka.
The Indiana attorney general’s office says it will file a brief in Patel’s case in November.
