A felony charge was dismissed last month against a woman who allegedly aborted her unborn child during the third trimester and buried it in the backyard of a residence in north Chesterfield.
The Chesterfield Commonwealth Attorney’s office filed a motion Sept. 13 dismissing the charge against Michelle Frances Roberts, 45.
Roberts was arrested March 29, 2017 and charged with “illegally causing an abortion or miscarriage” on Sept. 1, 2015 at 6219 Philbrook Road, which is south of Route 150 and east of Hopkins Road.
The case garnered national attention and involved a state statute written in 1950 that was updated in 1960, 1970 and 1975, the latter following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal nationwide. Arguments between commonwealth’s attorneys Shawn A. Gobble and Erin B. Barr and Henrico defense attorney H. Pratt Cook III included discussions about English common law, which is cited in state code.
Prosecutors alleged that Roberts caused intentional injuries to the skull of the unborn child that resulted in death. The human remains were exhumed under an order from Chesterfield Circuit Court Judge David E. Johnson.
Although Cook motioned to dismiss the charge, Johnson upheld the charge on Sept. 20, 2017. He also dismissed a motion to quash the indictment.
Roberts, who according to court care of her stepfather, tested positive for benzodiazepines and had a prescription for alprazolam [Xanax], which is often used to treat anxiety.
On Sept. 5, 2017, Johnson ruled that Roberts was competent to stand trial based on a psychiatric exam. According to court documents, she was hospitalized for mental health concerns on three separate occasions in June and July 2017.
Cook obtained opinions from three doctors and one independent expert that aided him in the prosecution ultimately filing a motion to dismiss the charge.
According to court documents, Roberts was living at the Philbrook Road residence but also listed a residence in the 7300 block of Orchard Hill Drive.
She would have faced one to five years in prison for the charge if convicted. According to court documents, she was held in the Chesterfield County Jail on March 29, 2017, and was issued a $5,000 bond on April 11 and a recognizance bond on May 5 of that year, a total of 38 days.
The law in question has been used once previously. It was used to prosecute a mother in Suffolk who shot herself in the abdomen on Feb. 23, 2005, in order to end her full-term pregnancy, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. However, the charge was dismissed by Suffolk Circuit Judge Westbrook Parker, who said the law did not apply to expectant mothers, but only to third parties.
“My interpretation (of the law) is that it refers to a third person assisting a woman and is not applicable to the mother,” longtime Richmond attorney John Rockecharlie said, as quoted in the daily newspaper.
