Grand jury to soon decide if NE Ohio woman who miscarried should face charges
WARREN, Ohio (WJW) — The Fox 8 I-Team has learned a Trumbull County grand jury will soon consider the case of a mother, who was investigated and criminally charged after she miscarried at home.
Brittany Watts, 33, is facing a felony charge of abuse of a corpse.
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Grand jury proceedings are secret, so the exact date a decision will be made on the case is not known.
Attorney Traci Timko, who represents Watts, declined to comment when the I-Team asked if Watts would testify during the grand jury proceedings.
Watts was 22 weeks pregnant when she miscarried at her home in September. She was arrested on the felony charge a few weeks later.
Warren police started investigating the case after a nurse called 9-1-1.
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“I have a mother who had a delivery at home and came in without the baby,” the nurse told a dispatcher.
Timko said Watts had been at the hospital just days before she miscarried because she was bleeding.
“She was told the fetus was not viable and would not survive,” Timko said. She added that after Watts miscarried she flushed the toilet.
Warren police went to the house and found the fetus stuck in the toilet. Police seized the toilet and hauled it out for evidence.
The case was first filed in Warren Municipal Court. After a preliminary hearing, a judge bound the case over to the county grand jury.
“Ohio law does not support this charge,” Timko said. “There is no law in the state of Ohio that requires a woman who just miscarried to bury or cremate those remains.”
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While Watts continues to recover, she recently was the victim of a hoax. According to Warren police records, someone called 9-1-1 on Christmas Day and said they just shot a woman at Watts’ home. The call turned out to be fake.
Watts has previously told the I-Team, via text, that she is distraught and heartbroken that she miscarried.
“This has been very difficult for her, very traumatic,” Timko said. “She miscarried due to natural causes, she didn’t cause the miscarriage in any way shape, or form. The medical examiner testified that the fetus had died In Utero and there were no signs of injury to the fetus whatsoever.”
If indicted and found guilty of the charge, Watts could face prison time.
Friends of Watts started a GoFundMe page to help pay her legal bills.
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