Little Rock, AR -- - An appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a man
charged with beating a pregnant woman and killing her unborn child should
be tried as an adult even though he was 17 at the time of the attack.

Under state law, when a defendant is 17 prosecutors have the option of
trying a case in circuit court, rather than juvenile court, depending on
the seriousness of the crime.

The Court of Appeals rejected Derrick Lamont Witherspoon's claim that the
state failed to show that the beating death was a ``serious and violent''
crime. Witherspoon said Pulaski County Circuit Judge John W. Langston
erred in not transferring the case to a juvenile court where Witherspoon
could face less-severe penalties.

Witherspoon and three others, including his two brothers, were charged in
the Aug. 26, 1999, beating of Shiwona Pace and the death of her unborn
child. Erik Bullock, the woman's boyfriend, was convicted of capital
murder in February and sentenced to life in prison.

The case was the first brought under Arkansas' Fetal Protection Act. The
1999 law allows murder charges if an unborn child in at least the 12th
week of gestation dies as the result of a violent crime. The case has been
a main arguing point for the pro-life Unborn Victims of Violence Act,
passed twice by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Witherspoon's older brother, Erik Beulah, pleaded guilty in April to
first-degree murder and first-degree battery and was sentenced to 40 years
in prison. His younger brother, Lonnie Beulah, previously lost an attempt
in the state Supreme Court to have his case moved to juvenile court.

Prosecutors said Bullock was a controlling man who feared Pace's pregnancy
would disrupt his relationship with another woman. They said Bullock paid
the men a total of $400 to beat Pace.