THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
A 19-year-old Norfolk State University student charged in the death of her newborn daughter told police she did not realize she was pregnant and did not see any signs of life once the baby was born.
Parts of Zina Lucas' statement to police came out during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. Juvenile Court Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. found probable cause to certify charges of murder and felony child neglect to the August grand jury. Lucas remains free on bond and is living with her parents in Philadelphia.
Police found the body of a newborn girl in a trash bin outside Lucas' Norfolk State dormitory room in April, after receiving reports from a hospital that a woman who appeared to have recently delivered a baby arrived at the hospital for treatment without a baby.
``She did not believe the baby was alive,'' Andrew Sacks, Lucas' attorney, argued. ``She saw a lifeless, listless baby. . . She saw nothing to indicate life. If she disposed of a baby that she believed was not alive, then there is no murder, there is no manslaughter. There is nothing.''
But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Valerie Bowen argued that Lucas had to be held responsible for her actions.
``Putting a baby in a trash bag is not conducive to life,'' she said. ``This child had no chance for life, and the evidence shows that had (Lucas) done what she was supposed to do, had she called 911, had she done anything, this baby would have survived.''
Lucas had denied to doctors that she had been pregnant after she arrived at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital by ambulance suffering from severe bleeding. Her roommate found her incoherent and standing in a pool of blood in the bathroom.
Leah Bush, assistant chief medical examiner, testified that the baby had died from abandonment and that she could not provide a more specific cause of death. The baby could have died from excessive bleeding, a clogged airway, or suffocation from being placed in the plastic bag, she said.
Investigators found the baby with her arms crossed over her chest and her knees bent, wrapped in a towel and then placed in two plastic bags in a trash bin about 200 feet from the door of Lucas' dorm room. ILLUSTRATION: ALBA BRAGOLI
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Valerie Bowen, left, presents the
case against defendant Zina Lucas, seated, before Norfolk Juvenile
Court Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. on Wednesday. At right is Andrew
Sacks, attorney for Lucas. Lucas is charged in the death of her
newborn daughter in April.
KEYWORDS: HEARING MURDER FELONY CHILD NEGELECT by CNB