An Accidental Life (49 page)

She’d done the right thing with Abby, and no matter how the verdict came out for Baby Chasson, they had all proved that during abortions sometimes babies were accidently born alive. And given a chance, those babies could survive.

At the end of any trial Peter thought how lucky he was that his office was located in the courthouse building. To avoid the press his only hurdle was a brief elevator ride and a short dash through the hallway to the courtroom.

As he entered the courtroom, he saw the gallery was filling up. The Chasson family were sitting in the first row, up front and to Mac’s left, in the seats just behind the prosecution table. He’d spoken with Glory Lynn last night and she’d sounded happy, and relieved that the trial was almost over. Behind him, Dooney walked in with the Gordys and Alice. The witnesses filed into the first row on Mac’s right side, and Peter and Dooney continued on through the rail gate. The hotel had found a sitter for Abby for the day, Dooney had said.

Mac had saved a seat for Rebecca too, but Peter told him to give it up. Rebbe wanted that same place near the back. The baby was really active these days, and she had to be able to come and go with ease. Again, Molly elected to sit in the back with her.

The bailiffs took their positions at the doors and he glanced at his watch, his stomach beginning to roil, like an early warning earthquake tremor. The judge would be here soon. He ran through the first few lines of his closing argument in his head.

Dooney edged around behind him and pulled out her chair. “Just a few minutes and it’s all over. Except for the verdict. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good,” he said. “I think we did our best.”

“All rise,” the bailiff called, and he heard the excited murmuring and shuffling behind him as everyone stood, but the blood rushing through his head drowned out everything else. This case was a part of him now. Gooseflesh rose on his forearms. He had to win. He had to expose to the world the secret of what was happening to these children.

He thought of the tender shoots of new faith he’d observed in Rebecca. She hadn’t mentioned this to him, but he’d noticed. He thought that perhaps, besides the baby, that this trial might have had something to do with that. Now, as he stood watching Judge Morrow enter the courtroom, Peter took a long breath and said a little prayer to God to help him say the right words.

When he’d settled back, Judge Morrow’s eyes swept the courtroom and the bailiff said that everyone could now be seated. Morrow’s eyes landed on Peter. “Is the State prepared for the closing argument?”

“The State is ready. Thank you, Your Honor.”

Peter rose, glanced at Dooney and stood. She gave him an encouraging smile. Ordinarily, if a jury had been present, Peter would have moved directly to the jury box. He’d have stood about five feet from the rail, and he’d have looked into the eyes of each man and woman in those twelve seats the entire time he talked.

But today was different.

Today only one juror was present in the courtroom. So he walked to the lectern instead, and stood before Judge Morrow. Yesterday Peter thought he’d glimpsed a slight change in the judge, for the first time a slight softening around his eyes and mouth as he’d looked at Abby Gordy in her mother’s arms.

Resting both hands on the lectern, he looked up at Calvin Morrow and began.

“Despite what any person in this courtroom thinks about when life begins, as instructed by this court, the State is not here today to challenge the law of the land,” he began. “But we are here to uphold the right of one small child to live—a right that was denied him by the Defendant.”

He paused and took a step back, shoving his hands into his pockets. “The State has introduced evidence to the court through an autopsy report, a pathology report, and testimony of witnesses that Baby Chasson was born alive on the evening of May 13, 1982 at the Alpha Women’s Clinic. The Defendant was the only physician in attendance.

“After the infant was born, Glory Lynn Chasson, the mother, heard the infant cry.

“After the infant was born, Nurse Clara Sonsten heard the infant cry. Nurse Sonsten also testified that she saw the infant, a boy, breathing, and moving various limbs while still in the Defendant’s hands. And then, the Defendant handed the infant over to Nurse Sonsten, still in the delivery towel. When she asked the Defendant’s permission, as the physician in charge, to suction the child’s air passages so that he could breathe, and then to call an ambulance for help, the Defendant said no. Instead he took the infant back from her and wrapped the towel tightly around the infant’s head and face as if it were already dead, and then handed the bundle back to Nurse Sonsten and told her to take it away . . . to the utility room, where medical waste was kept.”

Peter held the judge’s eyes as he spoke. Morrow did not look away.

“Those actions of the Defendant were deliberate and intentional.” Peter lifted his finger, emphasizing his next words. “When Dr. Charles Vicari ordered Nurse Clara Sonsten not clear the baby’s throat, not to call an ambulance, but to take him out of there, to take him away to the clinic’s utility room after wrapping a towel around his face so that he could not continue breathing, Dr. Vicari understood
exactly
what he was doing.” He paused. “And what was kept in the utility room?”

He answered his own question. “The evidence tells us: medical waste.” He held the Judges eyes. “Oh, yes. The Defendant was fully aware that his actions would result in the infant’s certain death, as he intended.”

He dropped his hand back onto the lectern and waited a beat. “But, Nurse Clara Sonsten defied the Defendant’s orders. Instead of abandoning the infant in the utility room, she testified that she unwrapped the towel from the infant’s face, and attempted to clear the air passages with her fingers. She took it to an empty room at the clinic, and there she held that infant in her own arms until it died. He struggled to breathe, she said. He fought to live. For—over—an—hour, the evidence shows, Baby Chasson
fought
to live.”

Peter dropped his arms to his sides, and, despite his earlier resolve, he began pacing back and forth before the bench as he went on, describing Melanie Wright’s testimony that she’d seen the infant in that back room with Nurse Sonsten; that she’d seen the infant breathing, moving. And he repeated Stephanie Kand’s conclusions from the autopsy and the pathology report that the infant could possibly have lived for over an hour.

Here he halted, looking at the judge. “Dr. Kand further testified, and the autopsy shows, that Baby Chasson presented no apparent anomalies. The heart was beating. The infant was breathing. The skull formation was normal for the infant’s age. The circulation system was well developed and healthy and normal for the age.”

He paused and took a breath. “The State’s witness, an ambulance driver, testified that it would have taken only twenty minutes to get that baby to a hospital neo-intensive care facility. It’s clear from the evidence that if an ambulance had been called, but for the Defendant, Baby Chasson might be alive today. Like Abigail Gordy.” He felt threatening tears and forced them back.

His voice rose as he resumed. “Your Honor, the Supreme Court of the United States has never considered the crime that we have before us today, the possibility that an infant surviving an abortion might be burdened with his mother’s prior choice and charged to die because of that. And there is a reason that decision did not cover this situation. That is because this crime is already covered by another law. The governing law before us today is not
Roe v. Wade
. The law governing this crime is murder. Because under the laws of the United States of America and the State of Louisiana, once Baby Chasson was born and breathed and his heart continued beating, he was a living human being with the right of every other human being in this country and this state to live, to fight for life.”

The courtroom was silent. Seconds passed before he continued.

“
Roe v. Wade
may have asserted the woman’s control over a fetus within her body, with some exceptions at the point of viability. But after birth?” He raised his fist, and his voice. “At birth, the line is clearly drawn.” He heard murmurs in the gallery behind him and paused, gathering his thoughts.

“After birth the child is no longer a part of the woman’s body; no longer a charge on her reproductive system. We are asking this court to recognize that—accidental or not, unwanted or not—the birth of Baby Chasson brought with it ‘personhood.’ From that point on every decision made with regard to that infant should have been made in the best interests of that child—a full medical assessment should have been performed. And the State has shown that there was plenty of time for that.”

He turned, looking at the defendant now. Peter’s hands curled into a fist. Charles Vicari met his look with sheer disdain.

“The evidence shows beyond reasonable doubt that this Defendant’s actions caused the death of Infant Chasson. The Defendant not only refused to provide medical assistance to the infant, but he refused to allow anyone else to do so either. And then he went further. He deliberately, knowingly wrapped the towel around the infant’s head while, according to Nurse Sonsten, Infant Chasson still struggled to breathe, and then he ordered his nurse to take Infant Chasson to the clinic’s utility room, knowing that alone and uncared for, there he would die.”

“He
intended
to kill that baby.”

Peter turned back to Calvin Morrow. “Second Degree Murder in this state requires as one element of proof evidence of an
intent
to kill. The defense will argue that Dr. Vicari was surprised by the live birth of Baby Chasson. The defense will argue that Dr. Vicari’s failure to anticipate such an event, his so-called surprise, destroys any idea that he might have harbored ahead of time an intention to let the infant die. Mr. McConnell will say that Dr. Vicari was convinced that any twenty-three-week fetus—as he believed—could never survive an induced labor abortion.

“But what Mr. McConnell has
not
told the court is this.” Peter leaned forward, bracing his arms on the lectern holding Morrow’s eyes. “The defense has not told this court that Charles Vicari has done this before. He was well aware of the risk of live birth during abortion. The State has presented evidence in this case that the Defendant refused to provide medical assistance to a live-born infant before, three years ago in New Hope Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. That infant was Abigail Gordy.”

In the silence of the courtroom, Peter turned, looking at Alice Hamilton. The nurse had shown great courage, then—three years ago—and now.

“Through the testimony of Nurse Alice Hamilton, and Abby’s father, Kenneth Gordy, the State has established that this is not the first time that the Defendant has faced this situation. Therefore, he could not have been surprised. By any standard, the Defendant was aware of the risk. He cannot now claim surprise and confusion as a defense—”

“Objection!” Vince’s voice rang out.

“—because Abigail Gordy’s very existence condemns him.”

“Your Honor,” McConnell shouted, standing beside Vicari. “Counsel is doubling down! Now he’s using the Gordy child as evidence?”

Judge Morrow turned red as he leaned forward over the desk with a hawk-like glare, his voice a staccato beat: “I remind you, Mr. McConnell, that this is a closing argument during which objections are
strongly
discouraged.”

Vince stared. Seconds passed, and slowly the judge turned his eyes on Peter. “Mr. Jacobs, what have you to say?”

“I’m referring only to Kenneth Gordy’s and Alice Hamilton’s testimony on record, Your Honor. Not the presence of the child in the courtroom.”

“See you keep it that way.” Morrow turned toward Vince McConnell. “Objection overruled. Defense counsel will take a seat. You’ll have your turn soon, but until then I expect you to extend to the State the same courtesy you’d expect for yourself.”

“Yes, Judge.” Vince sat.

Peter was finished, but he decided to push it one step further. “Your Honor, the State hopes that when the court takes this case under consideration, that you will consider the case of Abby Gordy as a living example of what I believe the Defense might agree is a meaningful life.”