Waiting for December 1st
Growing up I was told not to wish my life away, but December 1st can’t come soon enough this year. It is the date two important laws can be enforced. I was the primary author of both, and they passed almost unanimously.
The first is Ethen’s Law. It’s named after a little boy who was never born, because his mother was murdered when eight and a half months pregnant. Until December 1st, suspects in similar cases can only be charged in the mother’s murder not her unborn child’s death. The second law is Run and You’re Done. It allows law enforcement agencies to seize cars used in police chases.
These two laws create strong incentives to discourage deadly and dangerous behavior. Their enforcement can’t come soon enough. Since they passed the legislature and Governor Perdue signed them into law at least two women thought to be pregnant have been killed and several criminal suspects have led police on high-speed chases.
Outside Raleigh a 15 year-old girl was stabbed more than 30 times in the back, chest and throat, according to a news report. The same report cited court records saying she thought she was pregnant. Two adult men are accused in her death. Near my home district in Forsyth County a man is accused of shooting his wife, who investigators say may have been pregnant. She was shot multiple times including in the head. Her 11 year-old son was in the house.
A version of Ethen’s Law has been in committee in the General Assembly for more than 25 years. Hundreds of pregnant women have been murdered in that quarter century. The federal government has a similar law protecting women on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Fort Bragg and other federal property in North Carolina. California passed its version in the 1960’s after Charles Manson orchestrated the murder of Sharon Tate.
The Run and You’re Done law protects innocent bystanders and law enforcement officers. It will hopefully make a criminal think twice before stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake when approached by a blue light.
It’s normally the innocent who suffer from the actions of idiots. We hope “Run and You’re Done” becomes a recognizable slogan like “Click It Or Ticket” or “Booze It and Lose It.” If you run from law enforcement your vehicle will be forfeited and the proceeds of its sale will go to local schools.
Of course my first hope is that these laws will not be necessary after December 1st, but North Carolina is a safer state with them.
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