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Keeler v. Superior Court

Supreme Court of California, 1970

470 P.2d 617

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Brief Fact Summary

Petitioner put his knee into the stomach of Mrs. Keeler, who was pregnant at the time, in an effort to stomp the fetus out of her. The trauma crushed the skull of the fetus causing it to be delivered stillborn. The issue put before the court was whether petitioner could be tried for murder.

Rule of Law and Holding

The court issued a peremptory writ of prohibition restraining the trial court from proceeding with prosecution for murder because an unborn fetus was not a human being within the meaning of California's murder statute.