Kly, couldn't some common law apply here? Afterall, a pregnant woman can be imprisoned.
Yes, a pregnant woman may be incarcerated, but the under common law and constitutional law the fetus is not a person.
Interesting. However, some state laws do consider the fetus viable during the last trimester, so personhood of the child would have to be accounted for by the court, right?
In your scenario, state law would have to specifically address the personhood of conjoined twins. I wonder if all states do address conjoined twins as such. Of course, constitutional interpretation would be the variable in any case.
Yes. Some states have statutes that criminalize certain wrongs, like homicide, to the unborn. These statutes treat the fetus differently than a natural-born individual, and are specifically limited to confines of the statute. They don't give rise to an interpretation of personhood.
Conjoined twins have widely been viewed by law as separate individuals, each entitled to his own rights under the law, while sharing a common body. Therefore if an innocent conjoined twin accompanies his convicted twin to prison, the innocent one must be immediately released upon a habeas corpus petition.
This situation offers an ironic twist on the term habeas corpus.
