This article reported what is perhaps not the best argument a defense attorney could have made in an attempt to get the bond reduced:

July 3, 2004, 10:21AM


Lawyer: Fetus deaths 'not most egregious'
Associated Press

LUFKIN -- An attorney for a man accused of stepping on his girlfriend's stomach and killing the couple's two unborn boys told a judge on Friday that his client did not commit "the most egregious murder."

Gerardo Flores, 18, who is charged with two counts of murder, is accused of conspiring with his 16-year-old girlfriend to abort the unborn children. The case is expected to be one of the first prosecuted under a new state law covering the death penalty.

"I don't think it's the most egregious murder that we've ever seen. As of two years ago, this never would have been prosecuted," defense lawyer Ryan Deaton said during a hearing to lower Flores' $250,000 bail.

Deaton called the deaths a tragedy, that kids were "going around doing these kinds of things," according a story in Saturday editions of The Lufkin Daily News.

Assistant District Attorney Art Bauereiss called Deaton's argument "disgusting and outrageous."

"This defendant chose to take on two unborn victims who couldn't raise a finger against him," Bauereiss said, pointing to Flores. "He picks on the most helpless victims one can find."

Deaton asked state District Judge Paul White to set Flores' bail at $20,000. The judge denied the request.

Flores, then a Lufkin High School student, and his girlfriend have admitted that they worked together to cause the miscarriage of their twins when the teen was five months pregnant, according to police.

From a recent article in the Dallas Morning News that elicited a similar "you know you're in trouble when your lawyer says ..." observation from me:

""She's not guilty of abuse as the law would define that"

"TRENTON, Tenn. (AP) -- A little more than a year after Tom and Debbie Schmitz were profiled in heartwarming news stories as religious, caring foster parents, 18 children have been removed from their home amid charges of abuse and neglect.

"Police say some of the children--including those with physical disabilities and special behavioral needs--were beaten, left for long hours in a dark cellar and locked in a metal cage.

"The Schmitzes stood silently at their first court appearance Tuesday. An attorney for Ms. Schmitz said she is innocent and will fight for the return of the children.

'She's not guilty of abuse as the law would define that,' attorney Michael Robbins said as the Schmitzes and a handful of supporters arrived at court with yellow ribbons pinned to their clothes ..."