Court Voids Murder Conviction of Woman in Her Baby’s Death

A state appellate court Thursday overturned the second-degree felony murder conviction of a young woman whose bruised, 7-month-old daughter died of a skull fracture in 1980.

A three-judge state Court of Appeal panel ruled, however, that Mary Ann Benway, 25, a former Anaheim waitress, would stand convicted of involuntary manslaughter if the district attorney’s office does not seek to retry her on a murder charge within 30 days. The court found that Benway placed her daughter, Raelynn, in an environment so dangerous that it led to the infant’s death.

Benway, who had been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, was released on strict probation in July, 1982, after serving only eight months.

The prosecution never proved that Benway had battered the child, but it added to its murder claim another charge that Benway violated a child abuse law that makes it a felony to permit a child to be injured. That combination produced the second-degree felony murder conviction.

In an opinion by Justice Edward J. Wallin, the unanimous appellate panel ruled that the district attorney could not use that child abuse law to obtain a second-degree felony murder conviction.

The baby died in Childrens Hospital of Orange County on March 17, 1980. Doctors said they found bruises and other signs of mistreatment that allegedly had occurred over a period of time. A coroner’s autopsy found a skull fracture.