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Accusations that a Frederick man killed his pregnant wife and two young daughters is prompting questions about Colorado’s lack of a law allowing homicide charges in the violent deaths of fetuses.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado is among 12 states without such a law.
Prosecutors are expected to charge Christopher Watts, 33, on Monday. Watts was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of three counts each of murder and tampering with a deceased human body in the deaths of his pregnant wife, 34-year-old Shanann Watts, and their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste.
Law-enforcement officials on Thursday said they had located the bodies of whom they believed to be the deceased on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, where Christopher Watts previously worked.
Shanann Watts was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
While prior violent crimes have prompted debate in Colorado, proposals to allow homicide charges in the violent deaths of fetuses have been stymied by debate about how to avoid infringing on abortion rights.
Republican lawmakers last tried to change the law after a 2015 case in Boulder County. A woman named Dynel Lane was charged with attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy for cutting open a pregnant woman’s belly and removing her unborn baby girl.
Lane was sentenced to 100 years in prison after luring her victim with an ad for maternity clothes.
Prosecutors said that they could not charge Lane with murder because a coroner found no evidence the infant lived outside the womb.
State law does allow a homicide charge if a fetus was alive outside the mother’s body and then killed. State lawmakers in 2013 also allowed prosecutors to add extra felony charges against anyone who commits a crime that causes the death of a fetus.
The law can add up to 32 years to a prison sentence.
The top punishment for homicide in Colorado is the death penalty or life in prison. According to Colorado law, a defendant knowingly killing a pregnant woman can be considered an aggravating factor when a jury is determining life or death in a death penalty case.
Prosecutors have not discussed any additional charges that Watts may face nor whether they would pursue the death penalty.
The Coloradoan contributed to this report.
MORE ON THIS CASE:
►Update 11/6/2018: Chris Watts pleads guilty to murder of wife Shanann and two daughters
►More: Frederick neighbors plan vigil for slain Colorado mom and daughters
►More: Full interview with Chris Watts 24 hours before he reportedly confessed to killing family
►More: Colorado husband arrested in deaths of wife, 2 little girls
►More: No bond for Frederick man accused of killing pregnant wife, children
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