Nevada woman receives $1.6 million after wrongful manslaughter conviction over miscarriage
Patience Rousseau, a former Nevada inmate, was granted a $1.6 million settlement after her manslaughter conviction for a miscarriage was vacated.
In 2019 Patience Rousseau was sentenced to two years for manslaughter after a stillborn baby was linked to her consumption of methamphetamine, cannabis, tobacco and home remedies, under a 1911 Nevada statute that criminalizes drug use after the 24th week of pregnancy. She served the term until her conviction was vacated in 2021, when her lawyers proved she could not have known she was past the legal threshold. Nevada initially offered $100,000, but negotiations secured a $1.6 million settlement, with $1.2 million paid directly to Rousseau and the remainder covering legal costs.
She plans to pay off a house in South Dakota, buy her mother a car, and open a store selling rare aquatic plants and animals. The episode highlights how antiquated abortion-related laws continue to affect women in states with strict gestational limits.
