"To open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness."

BREAKING: The District Attorney who charged #LizelleHerrera with murder for a "self-induced abortion" is dropping the charges.

"The issues surrounding this matter are clearly contentious, however based on Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter." pic.twitter.com/0ICPy8QHJP

— Eleanor Klibanoff (@eklib) April 10, 2022

The indictment was an Act of God.  Or a force of nature.  No one knows where it came from, but the Starr County DA is NOT HAVING IT!  Of course, there was this problem, noticed as far back as...yesterday:

As @thewindingchain points out, the Texas murder statute "does not apply to the death of an unborn child if the conduct charged is . . . conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child."

So either the prosecutors are causing trouble, or they're using a different theory here: pic.twitter.com/SSlT3ojo1p

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) April 9, 2022

It's notable that Professor Vladeck's tweets on the Supreme Court "shadow docket" have been cited by the White House, so he's no idle scribbler like your humble host. Could that have had something to do with it? Did somebody read his Twitter feed and see the statute they forgot to check?

Supporters of #SB8 have long insisted that it didn't punish the pregnant woman, just those who *facilitated* abortions.

But by barring medically supervised abortions after six weeks, it forces those who can't travel to self-induce, which opens the door to prosecutions like this. https://t.co/8ZD1GrgBFJ

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) April 9, 2022

Or maybe it was the notoreity, and the $500,000 bond.

It sure looks like the prosecutors just … forgot … that Texas’s murder statute expressly exempts from its scope a pregnant woman who terminates a pregnancy.https://t.co/dmUSultd6N

A sobering reminder, among other things, to *always read the statute.* https://t.co/QUr6pECX5M

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) April 10, 2022

That's one lesson. The other is the absolutely masterful use of the passive voice. Read that letter and you'd NEVER know where that indictment came from, but brave St. George, er, DA Ramirez, slew that dragon without a moment's thought for her safety and did it to save that poor woman the travail of being accused of murder because...she had a miscarriage. Or was it because it wasn't a crime under Texas law?  

And on a Sunday! How very....Christian of her.  Maybe she heard the lectionary reading from Isaiah for the day:

50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens-- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.

50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

50:7 The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

50:8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.

Yeah....maybe.