Almost two years after the death of 30-year-old Jaime Lee Morales from her 23-week abortion, New York abortionist Robert Rho pled guilty to a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide on May 4. The jury was set to decide Rho’s fate before he accepted the plea deal which had previously been offered to him.
If he had been found guilty of manslaughter, Rho could have served up to 15 years in prison, so he decided not to let the jury decide that for him. Closing arguments from Rho’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, mentioned slavery, claimed trial evidence showing that Morales’ aborted child was found in a garbage bag was reported to “sway [the jury’s] emotion,” and claimed the trial was “a modern-day lynching.”
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which has reported on the case, noted his belief that “Rho took the plea deal once he realized the jury was about to convict him.”
As part of his deal, Rho had to admit his guilt, though he initially refused, saying she died at home. Lichtman had to push Rho to admit that he killed Morales.
The jury, while unable to initially decide on a verdict, eventually reached one. However, this will not be known, just as it will not be known if Rho would have had to serve a 15-year sentence for Morales’ painful death. Instead, Rho will serve a prison sentence ranging from 16 months to 4 years. He will be in custody and sentenced on July 26.
Morales died after Rho committed two abortion procedures on her. In the first one he nicked her cervix, which damaged an artery. Morales then collapsed, likely from blood loss. Rho performed a second procedure on her, though he failed to check her vitals, and did so without anesthesia. Rho reportedly cinched her cervix closed, which caused blood to pool in her abdominal cavity, though on the outside, it gave the illusion of halting her blood loss. Despite her condition, Morales was released and collapsed when her sister brought her to the hospital, where she died.
Rho did admit guilt, though his hesitation may suggest he only did so for a lighter prison sentence. The defense considered it “a win of gigantic proportions for us” and “a horrible accident.” Even the District Attorney failed to see the full magnitude of the two deaths involved with this late-term abortion, which he referred to as “surgery.” From Newsday:
Robert Rho, 55, who had been charged with manslaughter, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide after three days of jury deliberations in his four-week trial, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.
“Sadly, a 30-year-old woman lost her life as a result of the surgery,” Brown said in a statement. “The doctor has now accepted responsibility and admitted he failed to realize the damage he’d done and did not provide appropriate and timely medical care following the surgery.”
Unfortunately, no prison time can bring Morales or her preborn child back from the dead. With any hope, the prison time he does serve can be a lesson to other abortionists. Women deserve better than abortion.
