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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1999)
i i f Wanted, unborn children aren't recognized by state “Your baby is dying tonight,” one of three masked men said to Shawana Pace of Arkansas before they brutally beat her. She lived, but her unborn daughter* entering her ninth month of life, did not Shawana named her daughter Heaven. Her boyfriend, Erik, was pre sent during the attack and had hired die three brothers to kill Heaven. All four men current- ** ly face the death penalty in Arkansas for the attack. Had this occurred in Nebraska, Shawana and her daughter would not have been afforded the game pro tection under the law. In Nebraska, the men could not be prosecut ed for mur der. , No, Nebraska’s laws for such crimes are like the laws in California. Last month in Santa Ana, a judge ruled that a drunken driver was innocent of vehicular manslaughter even though an acci dent he caused resulted in the death of Olivia Taylor Garcia, who was eight monthsalong in her mother’s Womb. Olivia was delivered by Caesarean section. She had two minor seizures and spent an hour or so gasping for breath before she finally died. San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Mary Fuller said Olivia did not meet the defini tion of a viable human being. The same thing happened in Nebraska three years ago this holi day season. In December 1996, a drunken driver killed a Nebraska woman who was nine months pregnant. The woman died instantly, and her son, Zachary, was delivered by emergency Caesarean section. Zachary died nine hours later. The family was horrified to learn that the-drunken driver could not be charged with Zachary’s death because he had not yet been born at the tim6 of the accident. This next legislative session,— the Legislature will have a chance to place unborn children under the protection of state homicide statutes with LB 111. Under Nebraska law, if an act of violence against a pregnant woman results in the death of the baby, the perpetrator cannot be charged with the death of the unborn child. Nebraska Legislative Bill 111 would allow for criminal prosecu tion for injury or death at all stages _ of pregnancy. Nebraska Right to Life is lob bying for the bill because “it is a step toward recognizing the humanity of an unborn child,” Julie Schmidt-Albin, executive director, said to Citizen Magazine. Pro-abortion rights groups, including the ACLU of Nebraska, oppose such bills as “back door attempts” to overturn Roe v. Wade. But Nebraska’s fetal-protection bill explicitly provides that the leg isla tiondoes . not apply to abortions to which the woman has consented, to any act by the mother hei'self or to any medical proce dure. These accounts of the deaths of Heaven, Olivia and Zachary are heart wrenching. The tragedy that befell these families is unthinkable. What is even more unthinkable is the fact that there is no justice for their senseless deaths. It’s as if their mothers were never pregnant. It’s time the Nebraska Legislature stands up to groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, which are paranoid 'that something might infringe on their “right” to end a life. It’s time the Nebraska Legislature extend protection, at least to wanted children. Jessica Flan again is a senior English and philosophy major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. Double standard evident in coverage of gay men being charged with rape, murder GAY MEN CHARGED WITH RAPE AND MURDER OF 13 YEAR-OLDBOY Chances are you never saw that headline. Chances are you’ve never heard of Jesse Dirkhising. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. On Sept. 26, in Rogers, Aik., 13 year-old Dirkhising was sexually bru talized and murdered by two homo sexual men. According to police, Davis Carpenter Jr., 38, and Joshua ' Brown, 22, drugged and blind folded the boy, gagged him with his own under ^ wear and ""X. strapped him to a mattress face-down with duct tape and belts. Investigators said Dirkhising was then repeatedly raped and sodomized with various objects before he suffo cated because of the position he was in. According to a sworn affidavit, - Brown told police that in die early morning hours of Sept. 26, he blind folded the boy, bound him to a bed and repeatedly sodomized him while Carpenter watched. After the last rape, according to police reports, Brown left the scene to fix himself a sandwich. He returned to find his victim was no longer breath ing. Carpenter dialed 911. Rescue personnel responded, noti fied police and tried to resuscitate Dirkhising. Thirty minutes later, the youth was pronounced dead of positional asphyxiation. Notes found in Carpenter and Brown’s apartment indicate this was a premeditated crime, planned by both perpetrators. At the crime scene, investigators said they found notes from Carpenter to Brown, instructing him how to bind and sedate a child. Prosecuting attorney Brad Butler said there is evidence Dirkhising was drugged. A quantity of sedatives, other drugs, items commonly used in sexual bondage, notes making refer ence to various sex acts, pills and duct tape were found in the apartment. Notes entered into evidence are said to include handwritten instruc tions and a diagram of how to positior the boy. Carpenter and Brown were each charged with one count of capital murder and six counts of rape. Both pleaded not guilty and were jailed without bail for trial in April. Their lawyers unsuccess fully sought a gag order and lave said little about their line of defense. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. The facts in the case are so dis turbing, in fact, that half of the tenants in Carpenter and Brown’s apartment building have since moved out. But not so disturbing, apparently, to warrant any kind of substantial national media attention. One would assume die rape and murder of a 13 year-old child would foster at least a couple stories cm the national level. And why not? Brutal acts of vio lence against young people have received extensive media coverage in the past. The media streamed to school shootings in Mississippi, Kentucky and Colorado. Hie murder of JonBenet Ramsey still gamers prime-time news spots years after the fact. And who can forget Matthew Shepard? The murder of the 21-year old gay man last year ignited a media firestorm, resulting in thousands (lit erally) of stories and a number of national news magazine cover stories. But national coverage of the Dirkhising killing was virtually nonexistent. The Associated Press hadn’t moved the Dirkhising story nationally a month after it happened. A spokeswoman for NBC’s “Nightly News” said the show didn’t cover the story because of limited broadcast time. Neither “Today” nor “Dateline NBC” made mention of Jesse Dirkhising. A spokeswoman for CNN said the all-news network had an affiliate sta tion in Atlanta tracking the story but couldn’t say for sure if anything had been reported or not. Christopher D. Plumlee, deputy prosecuting attorney for Benton County, Ark., who investigated Jesse’s death, told reporters he was a “little surprised” at the limited coverage this “horrible crime against a child” received. A little surprised? The question is this: Why in the world couldn’t anyone in the national news media find die time or the inter est to tell Dirkhising’s story? I think conservative commentator Brent Bozell, in an article titled “No Media Memorial for Jesse Dirkhising,” is on the right track when he writes: “Had Jesse Dirkhising been open ly gay and his attackers heterosexual, the crime would have led all the net works. But no liberal media outlet would dare be first to tell a grisly mur der story, which has as its villains two gay men.” Jesse Dirkhising’s story was never told because it was political ly incorrect to tell it. The boy was killed by homosexuals, and homosexuals, according to \ some apparent unwritten ' rule among the liberal mainstream media, are untouchable when it comes to negative news coverage. Homosexuals, it seems, cannot be responsible for any of the evil in this world - heterosexual, white males have a monopoly. And what would cover age of Dirkhising’s murder accomplish forprogres sive-minaea journalists; Nothing. In fact, reporting of a story such as this would be detrimen tal to a news media that strives to mainstream and legitimize homosexu al behavior. While the actions of Carpenter and Brown can in no way be seen to represent the behavior of all homosex uals, the mere casting of any members of the homosexual community in a negative light is disallowed in the mainstream press corps. Unlike the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was a gay man killed by two heterosexuals, the killing of Jesse Diikhising could not be exploited as political leverage in the debate for fed eral hate crimes legislation. So the liberal mainstream news media had no use for this story. None whatsoever. j And that’s why you’d never heard of Jesse Dirkhising. And that’s a shame. Josh Moenning is a senior advertising major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist