In a ruling earlier yesterday, Indiana judge Elizabeth C. Hurley said that Purvi Patel should be released from prison immediately.
Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a 2015 jury somehow convicted her of both feticide and felony neglect. Patel was prosecuted for feticide under a 1979 law that was intended to prosecute those who attacked pregnant women. Patel’s controversial sentence was the first time that a woman who self-induced an abortion was prosecuted under the Indiana law.
Patel’s sentence was overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals in late July. The appeals court ruled that Indiana’s prosecution of Patel under the feticide law was an “abrupt departure” from the law’s intention. The court subsequently threw out Patel’s felony feticide conviction but upheld the felony neglect charge. Earlier this month, Indiana declined to appeal that decision, thus paving the road for her release.
The Associated Press reports that Judge Hurley reduced Patel’s 18-month sentence for felony neglect. She also ruled that Patel will not be put on parole:
Indiana Department of Corrections spokesman Isaac Randolph said late Wednesday that officials were reviewing the situation and that Patel’s release from prison in the “immediate future is possible.”
Patel has been in jail since March 2015.