A woman being treated at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth is facing a murder charge after punching a pregnant staffer in the stomach.
According to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, 39-year-old Cheri Akil was suicidal and was being restrained while receiving treatment at about 12:20 p.m. on April 12 when she punched a pregnant member of the hospital's medical staff who was standing next to her bed.
The staffer immediately went to the trauma unit for treatment and an ultrasound was performed but they were no longer able to detect her baby's heartbeat.
Akil, the sheriff's department said, was subsequently charged with murder and is being held in a secure area of the hospital until she can be moved to the Tarrant County Jail.
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NBC News reported Akil was in custody on an allegation of credit card fraud. Defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp was assigned Akil's case on Tuesday afternoon and said she had no knowledge of the evidence against her new client.
A homicide charge tied to the death of a fetus is a rare but not totally uncommon application of murder statutes in Texas, Lowthorp said.
