By pam easton
associated press
chronicle file
gerardo flores, 19, who allegedly
conspired with his girlfriend to kill the
twin fetuses she carried, walks out of
district court june 1 in lufkin.
Lufkin — in explicit letters written
from jail, often signed with "love,"
19-year-old gerardo flores tells his
girlfriend how unworthy of him she is.
"well, you fat, ugly troll I guess i'll
let you go cuz I got tired of writting you
and thinking what to put down, so
hopefully i'll be especting a letter from
you," flores wrote in one of his
handwritten letters to erica basoria,
whose last name he sometimes spells
"basura," which in spanish means trash.
Flores was convicted earlier this month on
two capital homicide charges for stepping
on his pregnant girlfriend's stomach and
causing the deaths of their unborn twin
sons. He was sentenced to life in
prison.
After basoria, now 17, miscarried in may
2004, she signed an affidavit on flores'
behalf claiming she beat herself in the
stomach and twice asked flores to stand on
her belly — once two weeks before she
miscarried and a second time a week
before.
Prosecutors, however, believe basoria was
abused by flores and never asked him to
stand on her growing abdomen nor inflicted
any injury on herself.
Angelina county assistant district
attorney art bauereiss says basoria was
just as much the victim of an abusive man
as the twins she carried. Basoria was not
charged in the twins' deaths.
For some, flores' conviction has called
into question the fairness of texas' fetal
protection law, which gives a fetus legal
standing but exempts mothers and health
care providers who perform a legal medical
procedure.
"it's unfair that a doctor can perform an
abortion, a wife can perform an abortion
on herself ... (but) the person who helps
them can go to prison for the rest of
their life," said flores' attorney ryan
deaton, who plans to appeal flores'
conviction.
Deaton claims the law, passed in 2003,
violates the equal protection clauses of
both the u.S. And texas constitutions.
Others, like joe pojman, executive
director of the texas alliance for life,
which helped craft the fetal protection
legislation, say the law is
constitutionally sound and working as
intended.
"even the laws that protected babies from
abortion before roe vs. Wade in texas and
elsewhere, in no cases were women
prosecuted under the laws," he said. "it
was always the third party."
bauereiss says the evidence he presented
at flores' trial contradicts those who
"want to say that this case is one which
establishes the law is essentially unfair
because erica basoria wanted to have these
children dead."
basoria was happy, even giddy about the
pregnancy, and the bruising to her face,
arm and across her abdomen when she
arrived at the hospital following the
miscarriage prove flores abused her,
bauereiss said.
"you wouldn't say she volunteered for
these injuries," bauereiss said. "is that
part of it?"
when basoria found out she was pregnant in
february 2004, she told her doctor she was
opposed to abortion.
Medical records indicate she repeatedly
told doctors and a paramedic after she
miscarried that she had been taking her
prenatal vitamins. But in the affidavit,
basoria said she intentionally stopped
taking the prescribed vitamins and began
jogging, even though she knew it might
harm the babies.
Basoria bragged about the twins and showed
off a picture from her sonogram at school,
bauereiss said. She had also picked out
names: eric and gerardo basoria.
"doesn't sound like a woman interested in
getting rid of these babies," bauereiss
said.
Deaton, however, said basoria decided when
she was four months pregnant that she
wanted an abortion. When she couldn't get
one, flores hesitantly agreed to press his
175-pound frame on her belly.
"he's out having fun with his friends.
He's a senior," deaton said. "she's
getting bigger and bigger and fatter and
fatter and she's very jealous."
when basoria began spotting a week before
she miscarried, she went to the doctor.
The doctor determined the babies were fine
and didn't note any bruising on basoria's
abdomen or elsewhere, bauereiss said.
There was a notation on the medical
record, however, that basoria had asked
about an abortion and was told she was too
far along.
Basoria miscarried on may 7, 2004. A
pathologist, who did an autopsy on the
twins, determined they had been dead for
at least 24 hours when they slipped from
basoria's body into a toilet at flores'
home.
Deaton acknowledges flores and basoria
argued in the hours before she miscarried
about him arriving home late, and flores
hit her. But, he points to basoria's
affidavit in which she says flores had not
physically abused her, and the autopsy's
conclusion that the fetuses were dead a
day earlier.
"so it is really irrelevant," he said.
Three days after the miscarriage,
basoria's statement to police differed
from what she told deaton months after she
began visiting flores in jail, bauereiss
said.
"jerry had asked me to stand on my stomach
and I had no other choice," basoria told
police.
Flores wrote at least 19 letters, none of
which are dated, to basoria. When
basoria's mother found them in a backpack,
she turned them over to police.
In the letters, reviewed by the associated
press, flores threatened to stop writing
basoria if she didn't do things for him,
such as get a tattoo of his name on her
body, where only he could see it, or send
him money.
Flores told basoria she had to be the
first to get a tattoo because if he were
to put her name anywhere on his body, that
part of his body would begin to "rott."
he also told her that when he got out of
jail, she shouldn't bother coming around
because he would be too busy with other
"hoes." flores referred to basoria as a
trick, a punk, a pig and a promiscuous
person.
Jurors heard only a few sentences from the
letters during the trial. From those
sentences, jurors learned flores had
questioned basoria about what his lawyer
had told her and a reason he didn't want
the twins.
"the reason I didn't want the baby's cause
of my school," flores wrote. "but what
now!! I am not in school! I am in
jail!!!"
the letters, flores' attorney said, are
the writings of a young man who didn't
know how to express his feelings.
"he says some really nasty things about
her," deaton said. "but what do you
expect from an 18-year-old who is sitting
in the county jail charged with capital
homicide because a woman talked him into
doing something?"
basoria answered the door at her mother's
house last week, but told the associated
press she didn't want to talk about the
case. It isn't clear whether basoria and
flores have had any contact since his
conviction.
Sarah wheat, a spokeswoman for the
national abortion and reproductive rights
action league pro-choice texas, said her
group opposed the state's fetal protection
law because it could work to erode women's
reproductive health choices.
It is unclear if the flores case will have
an impact, she said.
"it is just one of these horrible, tragic
cases," wheat said. "obviously, we don't
know exactly what happened."
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