USA - Connecticut. The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Robert Courchesne

The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the conviction of  Robert Courchesne. The Court ordered 4-3 a new trial for Courchesne, 50, white, saying the death penalty was improperly applied. He was convicted of stabbing Demetris Rodgers to death on Sept. 15, 1998  over a drug debt. Rodgers was 8 1/2 months pregnant. Rodgers' child, Antonia Rodgers, was delivered in an emergency cesarean section at Waterbury Hospital shortly after. The baby remained on life support for 42 days. She died hours after life support was removed, as a result of the lack of oxygen to her brain that she suffered after her mother was killed and before she was delivered. Courchesne was charged with 2 counts of murder as well as 2 counts of capital felony, which is punishable by death, for killing 2 or more people at once and for killing a person under 16. The Supreme Court ruled that the trial court improperly invoked the common-law "born alive rule" in concluding that Antonia was a "person."  Specifically, the ruling states, "the panel applied the wrong evidentiary standard in finding that the state had established beyond a reasonable doubt that Antonia was born alive." The court upheld the murder conviction for Demetris Rodgers' death, but that count does not carry the death penalty.