Abortion clinic owner arrested

Belkis Gonzalez is charged with the unlicensed practice of medicine and tampering with evidence.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 03.05.09

MIAMI | More than two years after a botched abortion at A GYN. of Hialeah, the State Attorney’s Office has charged the clinic’s owner, Belkis Gonzalez, with the unlicensed practice of medicine and tampering with evidence, second- and third-degree felonies respectively.

Gonzalez was arrested March 3 and released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond. Her attorney said she plans to plead not guilty to the charges. Earlier this year, Florida’s Department of Health revoked the license of the doctor who was involved in the abortion.

Baby Shanice was born alive at between 21 and 23 weeks gestation on July 20, 2006. On Feb. 6 of this year, the Florida Catholic published the firsthand account of Shanice’s mother, Sycloria Williams, who said Gonzalez cut the baby’s umbilical cord, stuffed her into a biohazard bag and threw it in the trash.

Hialeah police discovered the body in a clinic closet six days later, after responding to three anonymous tips, including one that said the baby’s remains had been thrown on the clinic’s roof.

“I would have liked for it to have become a bona fide homicide charge. However, we do not make the laws,” Hialeah Police Chief Mark Overton told The Miami Herald in an interview published March 4. “If anyone is outraged, I share it with them, but they have to understand we operate within the legal system.”

Ed Griffith, spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office, told the Florida Catholic that prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gonzalez’s actions caused the death of baby Shanice and therefore they could not charge her with manslaughter or murder.

“The key and crucial information we were lacking, even after two years, is that we could not determine exactly the cause of death of the infant,” Griffith said.

Griffith said that Gonzalez benefitted from hiding the body because it hindered the ability of the medical examiners to conduct an effective autopsy. “This irks all of us in law enforcement. Ms. Gonzalez clearly did benefit by hiding the body and made it impossible for us to come to an exact determination as we are required by law,” Griffith said.

Thomas Brejcha, president and chief counsel for the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, which is funding Williams’ civil lawsuit against Gonzalez and her clinics, argues that murder or manslaughter charges should have been filed.

“Somebody took steps that were calculated to kill her,” Brejcha said. “If the baby could have lived for five minutes or 50 years, that baby was entitled to live that life expectancy without somebody trying to kill her. That is our gripe.”

Tom Pennekamp, Williams’ attorney in the civil lawsuit, said the arrest is a step in the right direction but he is disappointed at the lack of homicide charges.

“The state attorney has all the evidence they need to prove beyond any doubt that Belkis Gonzalez’s actions certainly hastened the death of the live baby,” Pennekamp said.

Pennekamp believes the statutory definition of “live birth” is self–evident. “It is axiomatic that this is a homicide,” he added, citing Florida Statute 382.002 (10).

Griffith said that although the state attorney is not pursuing murder or manslaughter charges, the penalties for tampering with evidence and practicing medicine without a license are serious.

“The more severe charge is the unauthorized practice of medicine resulting in serious injury. The penalty is a minimum of one year in jail with the potential maximum up to 15 years. Under the law, it is a stronger penalty than manslaughter,” Griffith said.

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