Woman Wins $1.6M After Wrongful Manslaughter Conviction Post-Miscarriage

Patience Rousseau, a 34-year-old mother, has been awarded a $1.6 million settlement from Humboldt County, Nevada, eight years after a miscarriage led to her wrongful conviction for manslaughter. The incident occurred in April 2018 when Rousseau, then 26, miscarried. She was later questioned by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and subsequently charged under a 1911 Nevada statute.

This pre-enfranchisement law, which predated women's suffrage in Nevada, allowed for manslaughter charges if a woman used any means to terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks. Rousseau, unsure of her exact gestational age, had attempted to end her pregnancy naturally after missing an abortion appointment. Despite medical experts testifying that there was no evidence her actions caused the miscarriage, and that substances she may have used did not definitively cause the loss, she was convicted.

She spent two years in jail, enduring significant emotional distress and being stigmatized as 'the woman who had killed her baby'. Her conviction was finally overturned in July 2021 after a civil rights attorney successfully argued for ineffective counsel. The presiding judge described the case as a "total miscarriage of justice," citing Rousseau's poverty and lack of support.

As part of the settlement, a deputy accused of harboring animosity and taking the fetus's remains was ordered to return them. Rousseau, who has since moved to South Dakota, plans to use the settlement to purchase a home, start a business, and buy her mother a car. She continues to struggle with depression and loneliness, and her children are experiencing behavioral issues due to her incarceration.