“They meant what they said.”
That’s according to Gwen Wallen, the mother of Laura Wallen — a 31-year-old high school teacher who was 14 weeks pregnant when she was shot and killed by her boyfriend in 2017 — who, along with Laura’s father Mark Wallen, got good news in a late-night text Monday.
“It is my honor to inform you that the bill passed both houses, with no votes against!” read the 11:25 p.m. message from Maryland Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican from Carroll County, who was the primary sponsor of Laura and Reid’s Law in the Maryland General Assembly.
Laura Wallen, a teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Howard County, was shot in the head by her boyfriend, Tyler Tessier. Tessier died of suicide in a jail cell in September 2018, on the day he was to stand trial for Wallen’s murder.
The bill is set to be read at Wilde Lake High School on Tuesday.
“I just feel very proud of the lawmakers of Maryland,” Gwen Wallen said. “At the beginning of this session, they talked about how they wanted to protect the women of Maryland. I remember thinking, ‘How will we know?'”
“This morning I woke up and I know that they meant what they said,” she continued.
The version of the bill that awaits the signature of Gov. Larry Hogan is markedly different from the original.
“Laura and Reid’s Law has been amended from being a double homicide-fetal homicide bill to instead being an enhanced penalty for an assault against pregnant women,” Mark Wallen said.
Mark and his wife Gwen were supportive of the Senate amendments to the bill, which initially sought to allow prosecutors to seek two murder charges when a pregnant woman was killed, while her fetus was at least eight weeks old.
Maryland law requires that a fetus be viable — at about 23 weeks — in order for a homicide charge to be made.
In March, with the bill’s polarizing issue of fetus age still a focus, Ready took it out of the equation.
Rather than include any age requirements of the fetus, the amended bill states: “A person may not commit a crime of violence … against another person when the person knows or believes that the other person is pregnant. A person who violates this section is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 10 years in addition to any other sentence imposed for the crime of violence.”
The amended bill places pregnant women in a protected class — similar to enhanced penalties for the murder of a police officer.
In the final hours of the session, Ready was cautiously optimistic.
“This gets away from the whole issue of fetal homicide, and goes to if you know someone’s pregnant and assault them, they can face enhanced penalties,” he told WTOP.
The bill-signing date is still to be established.
“Maryland legislators did a really good thing for pregnant Maryland women last night,” Wallen said. “We are proud to be a small part of it.”
WTOP’s Will Vitka contributed to this report.
