Bill Would Make It Easier To Try Mothers Of Drug Babies For Controlled Substance Crimes
Vince Leibowitz | Dec 10, 2008 | Comments 1
A bill filed this week by State Sen. Jane Nelson would make it easier to try the mothers of infants born with drugs in their systems to be tried for possession under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
Under SB 342 by State Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), if an infant tests positive for a controlled substance covered under Penalty Group 1 of the Texas Controlled Substances Act (such as ozycodone, cocaine, methamphetamine) within 72 hours of birth, it would allow the presumption that the mother knowingly possessed less than one gram of the controlled substance in the county in which the child was born within the 30 days preceding the birth.
There are several problems with this bill. For one thing, an indictment for possession of a controlled substance has to show a reasonable time in which possession occurred and where the possession occurred. It will be difficult, in many cases, to prove that the possession occurred within 30 days since the drug stays in the system so long. Too, it will be difficult to prove that possession occurred in the county where the birth took place–especially since many births do not take place in the county of the residence of the mother (i.e., they go to a hospital with an actual maternity ward in a nearby county).
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Filed Under: 81st Texas Legislature
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