2009article;A Charleston woman agreed in Kanawha Circuit Court Monday to a judges suggestion that she have her fallopian tubes tied as part of her probation. Jessica Michelle Butterworth, 21, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana on March 23. At her sentencing hearing, Judge L.D. Egnor suspended a one- to five-year prison sentence in favor of five years of probation. Egnor, a retired Cabell County Circuit judge who has been hearing cases while Judge Paul Zakaib Jr. recovers from an illness, said he had made arrangements for Butterworth to have the sterilizing procedure free of charge. [Butterworth] recognizes the need to make changes in her life in order to provide for herself and her family, Egnors order reads. After inquiring of the defendant, the Court further recognizes [her] desire to have a tubal ligation and has located a provider who will do it free of costs, with arrangements to be made in the next 30 days. Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University who specializes in legal ethics, said the judge overstepped his bounds. Discussing sterilization with a defendant is coercive, he said. It interferes with a fundamental right, the right to procreate, the right to bodily integrity. cannabisculture/content/judge-arranges-sterilization-part-womans-probation-pot
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 03:01:00 +0000
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