Mom's lawyer asks judge to dismiss baby-death case
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A 32-year-old Kane'ohe woman is facing a trial on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of her 2-day-old son from crystal methamphetamine poisoning only because of city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle's "overzealous crusade" against the illicit drug, the woman's lawyer told a Circuit Court judge yesterday.
Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddins, who represents Tayshea Aiwohi in the first case of its kind in Hawai'i, told Judge Michael Town that no other state has successfully prosecuted a mother for the harm her actions may have caused her child prior to birth.
Tayshea Aiwohi
Aiwohi is accused of going on an ice-smoking binge during the days leading up to the birth of her son Treyson in July 2001. Eddins asked Town to dismiss the charges against Aiwohi on constitutional and privacy grounds.
Town said he wants to research the matter further and that he will issue a ruling June 3.
Eddins told Town that a centuries-old common-law concept provides immunity against prosecution for a woman who engages in activities that may later lead to injury to, or the death of, her fetus.
But city Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim said the common law cited by Eddins does not apply to the Hawai'i penal code. Kim, a veteran prosecutor who specializes in child-victim cases, told Town that he did not confer with Carlisle before going to an O'ahu grand jury to seek the indictment against Aiwohi and that it wasn't done merely to highlight the battle against ice.
The "clear language" of Hawai'i's manslaughter law makes no exception for "women who kill their babies by using ice during their pregnancies," Kim said.
He said the prosecution is alleging that Aiwohi "voluntarily smoked ice multiple times in the days just prior to the birth of Treyson Aiwohi," resulting in his death.
Kim also took an emotional swipe at medical practitioners and social workers who held a press conference last week urging that the case against Aiwohi be dropped based on the argument that prosecuting Aiwohi would discourage other substance-abusing expectant mothers from seeking help.
"Despite the invective directed at the state, we have heard hardly anything about the alleged victim," Kim said. "He was a baby boy who was born alive and who managed to survive for two days before he succumbed to ice put there by his mother."
He said the language in state law pertaining to manslaughter is "crystal clear, as clear as day," and it should be left up to jurors to decide whether Aiwohi is guilty of manslaughter.
Eddins argued that if the case against Aiwohi were as clear cut as Kim maintains, the prosecution would not have waited 2 1/2 years to seek an indictment.
If the case proceeds, prosecutors may someday bring charges against women who smoke tobacco or drink alcohol while they are pregnant, Eddins said.
The state's manslaughter statute is more than 30 years old, and if prosecutors are intent on bringing criminal charges against women who take substances into their bodies that may harm the unborn babies they are carrying, they should go to the Legislature to craft a bill that specifically addresses that situation, Eddins said.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
