Woman to face charges for baby's death

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An Indiana woman is eligible for bail but will still face a murder and feticide charge in connection with the death of her unborn child as a result of a suicide attempt.

The Indiana Court of Appeals released the ruling Wednesday in the case of Bei Bei Shuai.

Shuai’s attorneys sought to appeal a trial court’s ruling that denied her bail. Her attorneys also wanted the charges against her dismissed on the basis they stemmed from a suicide attempt.

The appeals court ruled Shuai is eligible for bail and sent the case back to a trial court to determine the amount of bail. Courts can withhold the option of bail if a charge of murder has significant evidence behind it, but the appeals court found that there could have been other causes of death for Shuai's baby beyond the exposure to rat poison.

Two of three judges who heard the appeal found that Shuai’s arguments did not warrant the dismissal of charges against her.

The judge that thought charges should be dismissed wrote, "For the first time in Indiana‘s history, and without any notice whatsoever, the State decided to prosecute a woman for murder of her child based on her conduct during her pregnancy. "

That judge wrote that charges should be dismissed because the state statute for feticide applied to third parties — not the woman who's pregnant — who harm a non-viable fetus.