HITCHCOCK Prosecutors returned to a shooting scene Monday and attended the autopsy of a pregnant woman who was shot and killed late Sunday night.
Her boyfriend has been charged with her murder, but he also might face charges in the death of the fetus.
Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said late Monday he would ask a grand jury to upgrade the charge to capital murder in both deaths.
Erika Gee, 33, was shot and killed in her Hitchcock apartment Saturday night. Her boyfriend, Bernard Stinson Cunningham, 33, remained in the Galveston County Jail on Monday, charged in her murder.
Gee, who was five months pregnant, was shot at least three times and died at Mainland Medical Center Hospital in Texas City.
Police said Gee s killing might have been a result of an argument that started after she ignored her boyfriend after returning home from her job at Gulf Greyhound Park. Investigators said Cunningham claims the shooting happened as the couple wrestled over a 10 mm pistol.
Gee s 10-year-old daughter, who saw the shooting and called police, offered a different account of what happened.
After a review of the case evidence and autopsy findings it is clear that the facts support a charge of capital murder, because the shooting death of Ms. Gee, who the accused knew was pregnant, also resulted in the death of her unborn child, Sistrunk said.
The district attorney said he would request that a judge deny Cunningham s bail. He was in jail on $500,000 bond.
Yes, Gee s sister, Lameko Hennigan, shouted when told of the district attorney s announcement. That was very important to me. That was the best decision the district attorney could make.
Sistrunk said he was uncertain when the case would be presented to the grand jury for the enhanced charge.
In February, Mariano Otiwii Torres, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxication manslaughter stemming from a December 2008 collision that killed Tylara Leigh Delgado, 19, who was pregnant.
It was the only other in-womb death prosecutors could remember going to trial in the county.
Under a 2003 Texas law, a fetus is considered an individual at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth in cases of assault, manslaughter and murder.
This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com s partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.
