Man accused of drugging pregnant wife to cause abortion gets 180-day sentence in Texas

An attorney accused of drugging his wife — pregnant with their third child — received a 6-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to downgraded charges, Texas court records show.

The 39-year-old man was arrested in 2022 when his wife caught him drugging her with a medication known to cause miscarriages, according to court records filed in Harris County.

He pleaded guilty to injury to a child and assault of a pregnant person, records show.

The husband was originally charged with felony assault to induce abortion, according to court filings. By accepting his plea deal, he will be jailed for 180 days with 10 years of probation.

McClatchy News is not naming the man to protect the identity of his wife and her baby.

“It’s a sad situation and (he) has accepted his responsibility,” his attorney, Dan Cogdell, told The Associated Press.

His wife does not feel the sentencing was enough.

“I do not believe that 180 days is justice for attempting to kill your child seven separate times. For two years, my husband has overly denied this assault, and I’m grateful today that he has finally admitted to his guilt,” she said in court Wednesday, Feb. 7, KTRK reported.

His wife’s accusations

In February 2022, the wife informed her husband she was pregnant with their third child as they were in couples counseling, according to a criminal complaint. The couple was separated at the time, and the counselor encouraged they spend spring break together.

While they vacationed in west Texas, the man began telling his wife she should drink more water, court records show. On March 17, he gave her a drink that “appeared to be cloudy,” telling her the cup or pipes were dirty.

She drank from the cup and became sick 30 minutes later, police said. Her symptoms included painful cramping and difficulty using the bathroom.

“She stated that she then began to suspect that something had been placed in her drink and that perhaps it was some kind of abortion drug due to her symptoms and the defendant’s reaction to finding out she was pregnant,” according to the complaint.

The incident required an emergency room visit for the wife, and similar activity continued in the following days and weeks, police said.

She accused him of giving her beverages on March 18, 21 and 22 that had an “unknown substance” in the liquid. She did not drink from any of the beverages.

This continued when they were back home, and the wife eventually set up cameras outside her home. Footage revealed the man had cleaned out his truck, and his wife discovered “opened blister packs labeled as ‘Cyrux’” in the trash.

The drug, she soon discovered, was a version of the American drug Cytotec that contains Misoprostol, which can cause medical abortion, according to court documents.

Husband is arrested

One final time, on April 26, 2022, the pregnant woman believed her husband was trying to drug her. This time, she caught him preparing a drink for her and emptying the contents of a Ziploc bag into the beverage, police said.

She spoke to her doctor a week later, and he told her giving someone Misoprostol “in an unknown amount is an assault,” according to the court documents.

“He stated that taking the drug could terminate a pregnant and thus kill any unborn child in the pregnant woman,” police said. “He stated that the drug could also cause diarrhea and bleeding, which is consistent with the symptoms described and exhibited.”

A Harris County grand jury indicted her husband in November of 2022, court records show.

“We very much look forward to our day in court and are thoroughly convinced that we will prevail in a Court of law when our time comes to defend these allegations,” his attorney said at the time, KTRK reported.

The verdict

The man was the first person in Harris County charged with felony assault to induce abortion, KHOU reported. But by pleading guilty to downgraded charges, the charge was dismissed.

“That needs to be fixed. It needs to add jail time and not be canceled out,” his wife said in court, according to KHOU.

The husband, the founder of a law firm in Houston, is expected to lose his law license, the outlet reported.

The woman, who remains separated from her husband, said her baby was born 10 weeks prematurely and is now a year and a half old, KTRK reported. She also has a pending civil lawsuit filed against him.

This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Man accused of drugging pregnant wife to cause abortion gets 180-day sentence in Texas."