Coalition calls for help
for alleged ‘ice’ addictExperts say a mom should not
be tried in the death of her baby
A Kaneohe woman accused of causing the death of her 2-day-old son by smoking methamphetamine should not be prosecuted for manslaughter, according to a coalition of health care and human service providers.
CORRECTION
Friday, May 21, 2004Tayshea Aiwohi was indicted Oct. 9 by an Oahu grand jury for reckless manslaughter for allegedly causing the death of her newborn son by smoking crystal methamphetamine. A story on Page A1 in yesterday's early edition misspelled her first name as Tayeshi.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.
At a press conference yesterday, Linda Rich, who treats drug-addicted women and helps them take care of their children at a Salvation Army drug treatment program, said the threat of criminal prosecution will drive drug-addicted or alcohol-dependent women away from the medical treatment they need and the prenatal care their child needs.
"Addiction is a disease, not a crime," said Rich, who is also president of the Substance Abuse Free Environment Council, a community organization advocating treatment rather than punishment of pregnant women and mothers.
On Oct. 9, Tayeshi Aiwohi was indicted by an Oahu grand jury on reckless manslaughter charges for allegedly causing the death of her son, Treyson, because of her "ice" use in the five days before and two days after his birth at Kaiser Medical Center on July 15, 2001. She has admitted she was an ice addict and has worked more recently as a drug counselor.
First Deputy Medical Examiner William W. Goodhue Jr. has testified that at the time of the autopsy, Treyson's system contained four times the minimum toxic level of ice for an adult and two times the toxic level of amphetamines for an adult.
Aiwohi, who has several other children, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
SAFE called a press conference yesterday to draw attention to the precedent-setting Aiwohi case and to announce that it had sent a letter to Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle this week asking that he "drop this dangerous and counter-productive prosecution."
"Arresting pregnant and parenting women who are chemically dependent not only deters them from seeking help, it is likely to deter others from offering compassion and providing the resources necessary to develop and fund the kinds of treatment that we know can help both pregnant women and their children," the letter states.
Carlisle said in an interview that the case will proceed.
"They are asking me to drop a case that is not going to be dropped because the statutory elements of manslaughter are supported. This was the reckless killing of another human being," he said. "Is this any different than a case in which someone uses drugs or alcohol and recklessly causes the death of another person?"
On Tuesday, a Circuit Court hearing will be held to determine whether the case should be dismissed based on motions by Aiwohi's public defender, Todd Eddins. Eddins did not return phone calls yesterday.
It is the first case in Hawaii and one of scores nationwide in which a woman has been charged for killing her baby by abusing substances, including ice, cocaine or vodka while pregnant or breast-feeding. Nationally, the charges have ranged from manslaughter to endangering the welfare of a child.
Dr. Willie Parker, an obstetrician at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, warned that the repercussions of prosecuting pregnant women must be thought out. In addition to deterring women from seeking medical help, drug treatment and prenatal care, it may encourage them to deliver babies outside of the hospital and abandon them. There also is the risk women will terminate pregnancies to avoid prosecution, he said.
Parker said these women will react to avoid jail or losing other children they might already have at home.
When reporters asked about protecting children from an addicted mother, Rich responded that the state Child Protective Services office "is a much more appropriate stick than criminal prosecution."
Parker noted the experience in states such as South Carolina after similar prosecutions. He said South Carolina found that in the year after widely publicized prosecutions there was an increase in the infant mortality rate and the number of abandoned babies. At the same time, he said there was a decrease in the number of women seeking drug treatment.
In 1999, Regina McKnight, a young South Carolina woman, delivered a stillborn girl that she wanted to name Mercedes. An autopsy revealed evidence of cocaine in the baby's system.
McKnight, a homeless drug addict with an IQ of 72, was convicted of homicide by child abuse and sentenced to 12 years without parole. The verdict was considered key because it made it possible to prosecute other women in the state as murder suspects if they had a stillborn child.
The verdict was upheld in the South Carolina Supreme Court in January 2003, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
