COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A person accused of raping and impregnating a 9-year-old Ohio woman who traveled to Indiana for…
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A person accused of raping and impregnating a 9-year-old Ohio woman who traveled to Indiana for an abortion was ordered held with out bond Thursday by a decide who cited overwhelming proof and the truth that he apparently resides within the US illegally.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, faces two counts of raping the woman, who turned 10 earlier than having the abortion in a case that has turn into a flashpoint within the nationwide dialogue about entry to the process because the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade. He has pleaded not responsible.
If convicted, Fuentes, who’s from Guatemala, faces the potential of life in jail with no probability of parole. That penalty and “not having any ties to this group that may be proved legally makes it a considerable flight threat,” Franklin County Choose Julie Lynch mentioned after a 35-minute listening to.
The woman confirmed that Fuentes attacked her, Fuentes confessed to Columbus police detectives, and DNA testing of the aborted fetus confirmed Fuentes was the daddy, Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Meyer and detective Jeffrey Huhn mentioned in courtroom Thursday.
Huhn mentioned he was unable, when looking a number of databases, to seek out any proof that Fuentes was within the nation legally.
In denying bond, Lynch cited that proof, the violence of the crime and the truth that Fuentes had been residing in the identical dwelling with the woman and her mom.
“To permit him to return to that dwelling, the traumatic and psychological impression can be undeserving to an alleged sufferer,” Lynch mentioned. She additionally cited the “bodily, and psychological and emotional trauma” the woman suffered from enduring the rapes and the abortion, and discovering her case on the heart of the nation’s abortion debate.
The case gained nationwide consideration after an Indianapolis doctor, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, mentioned the kid needed to journey to Indiana because of Ohio banning abortions on the first detectable “fetal heartbeat” after the US Supreme Courtroom overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
President Joe Biden cited the case when he signed an order July 8 making an attempt to guard abortion entry. Some conservatives and outstanding Republicans, together with Ohio Legal professional Common Dave Yost, forged doubt on the story initially, then condemned the assault after Fuentes was arrested.
Fuentes’ lawyer, Bryan Bowen, argued towards a no-bond listening to and unsuccessfully requested Lynch to set an inexpensive bond. He mentioned there was no proof that there was bodily abuse exterior of the rapes or that the woman had been put below the affect of medication or alcohol. He additionally mentioned that Fuentes had household ties in Columbus, that he had a job, and that there was no proof of a legal historical past. Fuentes has lived within the space about seven years.
“We have heard proof in regards to the nature of the offense, however we now have not heard any proof offered about any hazard that Mr. Fuentes would pose to any specific individual or to the group,” he mentioned. He declined to remark after Lynch’s ruling.
Dan Meyer, an assistant Franklin County prosecutor, mentioned Thursday that Fuentes was offering for the woman’s household, together with her mom.
Columbus police realized in regards to the woman’s being pregnant after her mom alerted Franklin County Youngsters Companies on June 22. Huhn mentioned Fuentes confessed to raping the woman, who turned 10 on Might 28, on two events.
The woman noticed a Columbus-area physician in late June with a plan to have an abortion domestically, however that wasn’t potential because of the gestational age, decided to be six weeks and 4 days, Huhn testified.
Ohio’s “heartbeat” abortion ban consists of an exception just for an emergency that’s life-threatening or involving a “critical threat of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a serious bodily operate.”
Indiana’s Republican Senate leaders proposed a invoice this month that may prohibit abortions from the time an egg is implanted in a uterus, with exceptions in circumstances of rape and incest and to guard the lifetime of the mom. The proposal adopted the controversy over the Ohio woman’s abortion in Indiana.
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