Judge Jeffrey Tickal’s order on Dec. 22 vacated Brooke Shoemaker’s 2020 conviction and set the case for a new trial, according to the ruling reported by the Associated Press. Shoemaker was serving an 18-year prison sentence after a stillbirth in 2017, and her lawyers argued that the loss was caused by an infection rather than by her admitted drug use during pregnancy.
In the ruling, Tickal said Shoemaker’s attorneys presented “credible new evidence” that the infection caused the stillbirth and that, if “the facts had been known, and brought before the jury, the results probably would have been different,” according to the text of the decision as reported by the Associated Press. The judge ordered the new trial after vacating the 2020 conviction for chemical endangerment of a child resulting in death.
Shoemaker’s case fits a broader pattern of prosecutions of some women after pregnancy loss, an advocacy group said. Pregnancy Justice, which supports her appeal, said Shoemaker is “one of at least several dozen women” prosecuted following pregnancy loss and “one of hundreds” prosecuted for pregnancy-related conduct, according to the Associated Press report.
The facts described in the reporting trace to a stillbirth in 2017, when Shoemaker was about 24 to 26 weeks into her pregnancy. She admitted to medical staff that she used methamphetamine during her pregnancy, and the state medical examiner found methamphetamine in the fetus’ bloodstream but listed the cause of death as undetermined, the Associated Press said.
Shoemaker’s lawyers argued that the evidence did not prove that drug use caused the pregnancy loss. In her appeal, the legal team submitted an expert opinion based on a review of pathology slides that, according to the report, attributed the demise to a genetic abnormality and severe infection.
Karen Thompson, Pregnancy Justice’s legal director, said the decision recognized the validity of science and faulted prosecutors’ approach in these cases, telling the Associated Press: “The judge really recognized the validity of science. One of the problems that we see in these kinds of cases across the country is there’s not any desire or need to prove any harm.” Thompson added, in the same report, that “there was never a factual basis for the charges” against Shoemaker.
Shoemaker issued a statement through Pregnancy Justice saying she hoped to be home with her children and parents next year. She said she was hopeful the new trial would end with her being freed, and she described the stillbirth as occurring “at home because of an infection,” according to the Associated Press report.
Prosecutors said they plan to challenge the decision. Lee County District Attorney Jessica L. Ventiere said in a statement issued Tuesday that her office “stands firmly by the investigation and prosecution of this case,” and that it remains committed to “seeking justice for this baby” and to “pursuing accountability through the legal process,” as reported by the Associated Press.
The reporting also noted Alabama’s role in pregnancy-related prosecutions. Pregnancy Justice said Alabama leads the nation in cases linked to pregnancy-related prosecutions, most involving alleged drug use, and it described Alabama’s chemical endangerment law as originally aimed at addressing harm to children from meth labs but later used against pregnant women. The Associated Press reported that the Alabama Supreme Court upheld that interpretation in 2013, writing that the word “child” in the law includes “unborn child.”