Fetus dies as result of domestic dispute, boyfriend charged with manslaughter!

[Sojiita]

Unborn Baby Killed in Domestic Dispute
Aug 06 2006 11:32PM
Reported by Lindsey Seavert


A pregnant woman's fetus did not survive after what she described as an attack carried out by her boyfriend.

Columbus Police received a call about a domestic dispute at 824 Como Avenue around 8 p.m. Saturday. When officers arrived, they report they found Amber Justus, 20, suffering from injuries.

Her boyfriend, Joshua A. Balling, is now facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter. But he told 10TV exclusively Sunday night that the altercation with his girlfriend was a case of self defense.

Balling was still in the Franklin County jail Sunday night when he wanted to speak with 10TV, saying he believes he is wrongly accused.

The 19 year old said he only pushed his girlfriend in self defense. But he also contends the shoving match is not what killed Amber Justus unborn baby.

Joshua Balling wiped away a couple of tears as he sat in handcuffs at the county lockup downtown.

"That kills me. That kills me," Balling said of learning his unborn baby died.

"It hurt me inside. I was ready to cry and everything."

Sunday, Justus told 10TV she was too distraught to speak on camera. But she said Balling had never hit her before.

She says he was drunk Saturday night and repeatedly punched her in the stomach. Her brother said he saw it all.

"He was picking her up, and he threw over the speaker. We got in there, and she fell on her stomach over there and scratched her knees up on the floor," Brandon Driggers recalled.

But Balling said Justus had been drinking as well, and claimed it was her who attacked him.

I walked in the house, and she was about to choke me. And I pushed her off of me. Then she went in the back room, and I followed her. And I guess I pushed her again," Balling said.

Balling said his girlfriend regularly abused him, and he was defending himself. He denies ever punching Justus in the stomach.

"I did not do it. No. I put that on my life. I did not do it," insisted Balling.

Instead, Balling contended Justus did not want their child. She is already the mother of one child.
Balling is the father of two other young children. This would have been their first child together.

"She even told my mom (Sunday) she was beating herself in her stomach. She told my mom that, so I don't know."

While he clings to claims of innocence, Justus' family prays for punishment.

"I think he should spend his life in (jail.) He killed a little baby that was just not born," Driggers said.

Balling was expected to be arraigned on the involuntary manslaughter charge Monday morning.


http://www.ohionewsnow.com/?story=10.../66725032.html

*Great. He is twenty and has two kids and is 18 and this would have been her second. And what is up with the involuntary manslaughter charge?..it was a fetus not a human being! If anything it should be felonious assault-no human was killed! I hate these type of laws that make a fetus not yet born have the rights of a human being! No human being was killed..it was a fetus..not a baby! I hate how the title was 'unborn baby killed'-it was a fetus!*

[MrsDark]

I know I shouldn't even be thinking about this but the names...'Justus'...'Balling'. hehehehe.

[A*O]

Sorry - Pregnant women are actually quite resiliant and merely 'pushing' won't do much harm to a foetus, let alone kill it. He beat the crap out of that woman and her unborn child. May he rot in hell.

[calendargurl]

I actually find myself believing his side of the story. SHE was the one that killed that baby.

[MrsDark]

I get that vibe here too. For one thing, I have a hard time feeling sorry for any pregnant woman who gets drunk. If she gave so little of a shit about the baby she was carrying that she was drinking and fighting (if it was all self-defense it'd be obvious) it's not so far fetched to think she might have been doing something else to sabotage her pregnancy.

Normally my first thought in a situation like this would not be that it could or would be the woman's fault. But when I remember that all women don't have the same maternal instincts and look at just the facts, I'm getting something different here. What she has going for her and the BF against him is that it would be hard to prove this in a way that the BF would not get at least some of the blame. He's probably up a creek. What's worse than this is that the GF gets off scott free, even if it was all her. Regardless of the fact that she was drunk and fighting herself, all she has to do is cry over her baby and blaming her will be unthinkable. Then she can go repeat this bullshit with another guy.

[Grimmlok]

The thing is probably pickled in her beerkeg of a uterus.

[OCD]

A fetus is not a human being? Is it an alien?

A fetus is a human being, the word fetus is used to describe a stage in the life cycle not a different species that magically passes the vaginal threshold at term to be suddenly crowned human status.

And if a woman has chosen to carry a pregnancy to term, and someone harms her person causing THE PERSON aka Fetus inside her to die it is a death of a living being at whatever stage the living being may be at.

This particular story however seems fishy. If the abused woman was drunk and the story is sketchy I say she should go to jail and get her tubes tied as part of the punishment package.

Oh and one last thing an unborn baby is the same thing as a fetus. If you look up the word fetus you will learn the latin meaning of the word. It doesn't say "pre human alien being".

Stupid semantics. In your view of unborn babies/fetus' a baby born a week premature would be non human, and in essence wouldn't have any rights so the mother technicly could kill it at whim because it's a fetus, a semi cooked alien being magically transformed into a human at 40 weeks gestation.

I wonder how well that argument would go over with mother's of very premature babies? They are in fact babies no?

[Grimmlok]

A fetus is a POTENTIAL human being, not a fully realized one.

[KD]

She's drinking *while* pregnant? She sure couldn't be too *sad* about the miscarriage. Baby was probably going to be born with FAS/FAE. They both sound like utter and total TRASH. May they both now be sterile.

[UndercoverGator]

OKay, so we've established that these are neither the classiest or more responsible potential parents in the world but I would hate to see men not prosecuted for deliberately murdering an unborn child because of idiots like these. Particularly in cases like the Peterson case. That case is a good example of why there needs to be laws in place to punish those assclowns who kill babies in utero that could have survived. I'm not sure two drunken retards scuffling over the last malt liquor, last unsmoked Kool and last few Cheetos should be a crime of the same magnitude. I would like to see the mother prosecuted for endangering her unborn child by drinking.

[KD]

^You always say it best, UCG.

[Aella]

OKay, so we've established that these are neither the classiest or more responsible potential parents in the world but I would hate to see men not prosecuted for deliberately murdering an unborn child because of idiots like these. Particularly in cases like the Peterson case. That case is a good example of why there needs to be laws in place to punish those assclowns who kill babies in utero that could have survived. I'm not sure two drunken retards scuffling over the last malt liquor, last unsmoked Kool and last few Cheetos should be a crime of the same magnitude. I would like to see the mother prosecuted for endangering her unborn child by drinking.

Agree with everything on this post.

[Sojiita]

Update! (that lying bitch):




Woman Admits To Lying About Death Of Fetus
Charges Against Boyfriend Dropped

POSTED: 3:10 pm EDT August 10, 2006
UPDATED: 5:49 pm EDT August 10, 2006



COLUMBUS, Ohio -- All charges were dropped Thursday against a teenager accused of killing his unborn child.
The unborn child's mother said she went to police, saying that the story she told police was a lie, and doctors confirmed it, NBC 4's Elizabeth Scarborough reported.

Joshua Balling, 19, was released from jail and is now spending time with his family. After spending three nights in jail, Balling said he has been clinging to four words.
"I didn't do it," he said.

Balling was arrested Sunday morning and charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly killing his unborn child by hitting the mother.
"They kept trying to pressure me into saying I did it, but I knew I didn't do it," he said. "I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to be home with my son."
Balling admitted that he and his girlfriend, Amber Justus, got into a fight.
"She started hitting herself in the stomach," Balling said. "It just made me cry inside. Why would she do that?"

Justus' sister went with her to an area hospital.
"The doctor tried to find a heartbeat for the baby. There was no heartbeat," Justus said.
Even Justus' family members said they didn't believe that Balling was to blame. Justus' sister convinced her to tell the truth, Scarborough reported.

Officials said Justus indicated that Balling did not hit her in the stomach.

On Wednesday, doctors confirmed Balling's innocence, saying that the fetus had been dead for three weeks at the time of the incident.
Balling was released Wednesday night, Scarborough reported.

"I want people to know there (are) two sides to every story," Balling said.
Sources said that Justus is currently undergoing counseling.
http://www.nbc4i.com//news//9662015/detail.html

*He should kick her lying ass to the curb.*

[yanna]

Fucking bitch! Why didn't she have an abortion since she obviously didn't want the baby? Isn't it still allowed in Ohio? I feel really bad for this guy, very few people would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it was her who did this.

[Sojiita]

Fucking bitch! Why didn't she have an abortion since she obviously didn't want the baby? Isn't it still allowed in Ohio? I feel really bad for this guy, very few people would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it was her who did this.

Yes it is still allowed in Ohio..for now anyway.