If found guilty of all charges, the Indian-American will face a maximum sentence of up to 100 years
Manishkumar Patel, a fugitive who was absconding for nine years after jumping bail and was later extradited to Wisconsin for allegedly trying to kill his unborn child will have a plea hearing on August 1.
He was extradited from New York last year to Outagamie County, Wisconsin, where he is currently being held on USD50 million cash bail.
Patel, 43, is charged with seven felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, stalking, burglary, and jumping bail.
Patel is accused of trying to abort the fetus of his girlfriend by diluting a drug in her smoothie in 2007. Even though she did not ingest the drink but miscarried nonetheless a few weeks later.
The local Fox affiliate, Fox 11 News, reported quoting court documents that a jury trial was initially scheduled for June 11. However, that’s been replaced with a plea hearing set for August 1.
Patel jumped a USD750,000 cash bond in 2007 and was subsequently arrested in 2017 in New York by border police while travelling with a fraudulent passport.
Patel also faces 23 bail jumping charges relating to the missed court dates. October 3 arraignment is scheduled in that case.
Wisconsin laws call for stringent punishments for harming a fetus. In 1998, the state made “killing of an ‘unborn child’ at any stage of pre-natal development is a first-degree intentional homicide.”