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Last updated on Thursday, November 10, 2011
(INDIANAPOLIS) - The Indiana Court of Appeals will consider whether an Indianapolis woman accused of killing her premature baby by ingesting rat poison while she was pregnant should be released on bond.
The court will hear arguments in the case against Bei Bei Shuai on Dec. 13. Marion Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle ruled in June that she should not be allowed out of jail on murder and feticide charges because there was a strong presumption of her guilt. Bond is extremely rare in murder cases. Her attorney says the Chinese immigrant ate rat poison because she intended to kill herself, not her baby.
Dozens of health care and other groups have filed friend-of-the-court briefs asking the Court of Appeals to allow her release.
Shuai has been jailed since March after authorities said she took rat poison while 33 weeks pregnant. Doctors delivered her daughter prematurely on Dec. 31, 2010, and the child died three days later.
In court briefs, health care groups claim that the prosecution of Shuai and others are likely to deter pregnant women from seeking prenatal care, treatment for drug and alcohol problems and mental health services that are beneficial to them and their infants.
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