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The Nation - News from Dec. 6, 1985

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The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that an unborn boy killed when an alleged drunk driver crashed into his mother’s car was not a human being under state law. The high court, in a 6-1 ruling, agreed that a trial court properly dropped a charge of “vehicular homicide” because a fetus is not a human being. John Soto, accused of driving while intoxicated, crashed into a car driven by Janet Anne Johnson, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, at a St. Paul intersection Nov. 8, 1984. The male fetus died of head injuries.

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