A man who allegedly beat his pregnant girlfriend and caused her to lose her baby could face a murder trial, Channel 4's Jim Parsons reported.
Deputy Coroner Tim Uhrich recommended Wednesday that James Pinkston be charged with criminal homicide of an unborn child. The District Attorney's Office must now decide whether to file the charge.
Police and paramedics say Pinkston slapped, punched and kicked Toni Koonce at Koonce's Baldwin apartment on Dec. 18, 2003. Koonce was 16 weeks pregnant at the time.
Five days after the alleged beating, doctors at Magee-Womens Hospital performed an emergency abortion because Koonce's embryonic membranes had ruptured and fluid was leaking, creating the possibility of a fatal infection.
"He took something from me that he had no right to," Koonce said of Pinkston.
Uhrich said this is the first time that an open inquest has been held in the death of an unborn baby in Allegheny County.
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