A California judge gave a deaf man 50 years to life in prison for the killing his girlfriend's unborn baby. When Danny Ray Poplin Jr. attacked Vanessa Robert with a butcher knife on New Year's Eve of 2006, he accused her of having an affair with another man and signed to her "His semen is in you." DNA tests later showed Poplin had killed his own child and there was no evidence of infidelity on her part. A jury convicted him of the rarely prosecuted charge of first-degree fetal murder. He'll serve the sentence after finishing a 12 year sentence for the attack on Robert. The couple lived in a Sacramento suburb with another child they had together who saw the attack and testified at the trial. Poplin's previous conviction for first-degree burglary doubled what would have been a 25-year sentence. Even though 5 interpreters worked the trial, Poplin's attorney complained that he understood little of the proceedings because he was born deaf and never learned ASL because his mother used a crude home sign.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
50 Years to Life for California Man
A California judge gave a deaf man 50 years to life in prison for the killing his girlfriend's unborn baby. When Danny Ray Poplin Jr. attacked Vanessa Robert with a butcher knife on New Year's Eve of 2006, he accused her of having an affair with another man and signed to her "His semen is in you." DNA tests later showed Poplin had killed his own child and there was no evidence of infidelity on her part. A jury convicted him of the rarely prosecuted charge of first-degree fetal murder. He'll serve the sentence after finishing a 12 year sentence for the attack on Robert. The couple lived in a Sacramento suburb with another child they had together who saw the attack and testified at the trial. Poplin's previous conviction for first-degree burglary doubled what would have been a 25-year sentence. Even though 5 interpreters worked the trial, Poplin's attorney complained that he understood little of the proceedings because he was born deaf and never learned ASL because his mother used a crude home sign.
