A California man was found guilty last week in the murder of a young woman who was believed to be pregnant with his child.
On June 24, 2015, Alicia Faith Todd was killed at the age of 21. At the time, she was also no more than five weeks pregnant. The genetic testing of embryonic remains linked her preborn child to Tremaine Lewis, now 32, who had a complicated relationship with Todd while also having a different girlfriend. Lewis was convicted of two crimes: murder and discharging a firearm during “the commission of a crime.”
During the trial, prosecution contended that Todd was nothing more than a “side girl” to Lewis, and the pregnancy complicated his relationship with his girlfriend. They said that Todd had just visited a local Planned Parenthood to take a pregnancy test, which showed a positive result. The next day, she was found dead in an alley between Lemon and Orange avenue. She was still holding her car keys but sadly, three bullets stopped her in her tracks.
READ: Police hunt for killer after pregnant teen and baby murdered in Pennsylvania
Lewis has been imprisoned since February 2016. His defense attorney, Stephen Kahn, claimed innocence and rationalized that the defendant’s life was “changing” rapidly over a short period of time. Kahn reasoned that “not one piece of direct evidence puts the defendant there” at the scene of the crime and that there was no “pressure” being put on Lewis to “eliminate her.” “Why would he kill her because she was pregnant?” he asked jurors. “This case makes no sense…There is no reason to kill this young woman.”
Todd’s uncle, Mack A. Jenkins, disagreed with the defense’s claim. “He’s a sociopathic predator…I tried to warn Alicia about men like him,” he said. Her cousin and federal prosecutor, Mack E. Jenkins, grieved, “The defendant destroyed not just Alicia’s life, but the life she was going to create for her child.”
Research shows that murder is a leading cause of death among pregnant women. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, women in the US are more likely to die by homicide during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth than to die from the three leading obstetric causes of maternal death, which are high blood pressure disorders, hemorrhage, and sepsis.
The jury considered the case for about two hours before concluding that Lewis was guilty. He faces a sentence of 50 years to life in prison and is expected to make an appeal against the convictions. Sentencing is scheduled for June 7th.
