Rigo Martinez
LANDIS, N.C. -- For the first time, a family saw the man accused in the death of their loved one face-to-face inside and outside the courthouse. And for seemingly the hundredth time, it was another vivid reminder of what was lost one February evening.
"It was heartbreaking to see him walk in with his cane, knowing how bad Leanna's legs were crushed, and that bothered me to know that he was actually walking and that he's OK," Jeanette Bentley said.
Rigo Martinez, an illegal immigrant, is charged with second degree murder and DWI, in the death of Leanna Newman, 20, who was eight-months pregnant.
Baby Bianca Cheyenne was delivered, but never took a breath. And because of that, under North Carolina law, Martinez faces one, not two, counts of second-degree murder.
"You couldn't look in that coffin and see Leanna and Bianca laying there and say only one person died that day. There were two victims," Bentley said.
An illegal immigrant accused of driving drunk and killing a 20-year-old pregnant woman earlier this year appeared in a Rowan County courtroom Monday morning.
But that law could change. In February, weeks after Newman's death, state lawmakers introduced the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
It would make the unintentional or intentional murder of an unborn child a separate offense -- and carry separate charges.
“I think this will help a little bit more in that justice will be done, and right now there are a lot of crimes are unpunished because this crime is not on the books,” state senator Andrew Brock said.
The bill hasn't moved from the judiciary committee since February, which is why the Newmans and other families will give a face to their cause.
They've organized a vigil in Raleigh to demand that lawmakers get moving.
"We want to this bill to be heard, we don't want it to die in committee. We want to give the house a chance to vote on this bill," Bentley said.
Martinez is being held under a $1 million bond at Central Prison in Raleigh. Last month he entered a plea of not guilty to the second-degree murder and DWI charges.