MURDER CHARGE IN DRUG-PREGNANCY CASE IS DISMISSED

Acknowledging they had a problematic case, prosecutors this week dropped a
3-year-old murder charge against a Canon woman accused of causing her
baby's death by using drugs during her pregnancy.

Northern Circuit District Attorney Bob Lavender dismissed the murder charge
Wednesday against Shannon Moss, 23.

Moss pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to possession of
cocaine and possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to five years
of probation.

The unique case was believed to be the first in Georgia where a murder
charge was brought as the result of a woman's drug use during pregnancy.

Lavender said Thursday that toxicology tests run on infant Angel Hope
Schnieder after the child was exhumed show no signs of drugs in the system.
There were also problems establishing that the child died after birth,
essential for a murder conviction, Lavender said. In addition, the
prosecutor said the method of obtaining Moss' medical records by subpoena
had since been ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court.

"With all the multiple problems we had with this case, I didn't want to
make any bad law," Lavender said.

Moss' attorney, F. Mayes Davison, said his client felt great relief that
"this thing is finally over with."

A "lifelong drug addict," Moss has been clean and sober for three years,
Davison said.

Davison said he was supported in the case by more than 30 national
organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the
American Academy on Physician and Patient and the American Nurses
Association. Advocates worried that such prosecutions would discourage
drug-addicted women from seeking prenatal care.

"This is not the kind of criminal action we need to be doing in Georgia,"
Davison said. "We need to be helping these women. I hope that this will be
the be-all and end-all for these types of cases on the part of prosecutors
in the state of Georgia, but I just don't know if it is or not."

Lavender said he wasn't ruling out pursuing similar cases in the future.
"If I have another one with a better factual basis, I'll try it again,"
Lavender said.