Anchorage District Attorney Brittany Dunlop announced Thursday that an Anchorage Grand Jury indicted Iohani Wilhem Dean, 21, on three counts of Murder of an Unborn Child, Manslaughter of an Unborn Child and three counts of Assault for the domestic violence assault of Chloe Fuimaono, 21, which led to the death of her unborn child.
The charges are interesting, since abortion is legal in Alaska, with no limit on abortion based on how far along in pregnancy a mother is. An abortion can be performed at any stage and not be considered murder.
Although it’s a felony to “murder an unborn child” if it’s intentional, Alaska law carves out an exception for abortion: The law does “not apply to acts that cause the death of an unborn child if those acts were committed during a legal abortion to which the pregnant woman consented.”
The child who was killed was more than 36 weeks old at the time of death.
Dean has a history of violent incidents throughout this year, as seen in his Alaska Court system file. Dean will be arraigned in Anchorage Superior Court on Friday, Dec. 8. If convicted, Dean faces a sentence of up to 99 years of imprisonment, a fine of $500,000, or both.
