The trial of Torey Branch on charges of burglary, abortion, and criminal trespass has started in New York this week. Branch is accused in a fiendish plot using Google and a beating to cause his pregnant girlfriend to miscarry. Prosecutors maintain that Branch was upset because Mia Jones, 34, was pregnant and would not have an abortion. He tried pressuring her, giving her money and would set abortion clinic appointments. But Jones, a single mother of four, refused to have an abortion and had already named her unborn child Kennedy. Branch then came up with an evil plan.
He used the Internet search engine Google and typed in various sentences that ultimately proved his downfall. The NYPD cybercrimes unit was able to recover texts and search history of Branch using what is called an “extraction warrant” and showing Branch used his Blackberry in the commission of his crime. Prosecutors revealed that his searches included the phrases “Can being hit in the stomach cause a miscarriage” and “What happens when a pregnant woman gets hit in the stomach” in the weeks leading up to the attack.
On March 28, 2014, Branch put his wicked plan into action by sending Jones a series of texts that he later deleted trying to lure Jones into an encounter for sex. Hours before he attacked Jones with an accomplice, he texted, “I wanna F**K.” Jones testified that while leaving a medical appointment, two masked men grabbed her in a building and beat her so badly the dead fetus had to be removed by c-section. A second man was arrested but later released when it was determined he could not have been a part of the attack.
The beating left Jones with two fractured eyes and injuries so severe she needed two blood transfusions and stitches. Doctors had to perform an emergency c-section to remove the dead fetus from Jones’ womb. She testified, “I just wanted to hold her. I wanted her to breathe and wake up; she was lifeless … so innocent and beautiful. I loved her with all my life.” Branch’s defense attorneys maintain that Jones had several sex partners and perhaps one these other men was responsible for the attack.
If convicted, Branch faces up to 25 years in prison for his vicious crime.
