Abortion-death doctor is sentenced to jail

A Riverside County judge orders the term to begin immediately but will consider defense alternatives.

To a chorus of gasps from supporters, a doctor whose patient bled to death after an abortion in Moreno Valley was sentenced Friday to a year in county jail for involuntary manslaughter.

Then, in a move that stunned Bruce Saul Steir and his defense team, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Vilia Sherman ordered Steir taken into custody immediately to begin his sentence. Sherman suspended six months of the term in return for Steir spending 1,000 hours in community service.

"That's not punishment, Your Honor, that's draconian," defense attorney Doron Weinberg complained.

Weinberg said Steir, 69, needed time to put his affairs in order and propose alternatives to jail, such as a halfway house. Jail could worsen his client's myriad medical problems, Weinberg argued, and Steir poses no threat to the community.

Prosecutor Kennis Clark opposed the delay.

"It's time for punishment to begin," she said.

Weinberg renewed his pleas, saying Steir had no idea he would be jailed Friday.

But Sherman cut him off.

"This hearing is over," the judge said, leaving the bench.

As he was led to a holding cell, Steir hugged his tearful wife and children. Several dozen supporters gathered outside the courtroom criticized Steir's immediate incarceration.

"That is uncalled for," said Eileen Schnitger, director of patient education for Women's Health Specialists in Chico. "It's not helping . . . the community."

Sherman ordered Steir taken to the jail ward at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley for a medical evaluation. The judge said she would consider further defense arguments that Steir is too ill for jail, as well as proposals for alternative incarceration.

Steir, who also was sentenced to five years' probation, pleaded guilty in April and had been free on bail.

Prosecutors charged Steir with second-degree murder after Sharon Hamptlon, 27, died in December 1996.

The defense argued that Steir was singled out because he provided abortions. Anti-abortion activists pushed prosecutors and state medical officials to press for criminal charges, Weinberg said.

Steir has said he did not realize he perforated Hamptlon's uterus and would have made sure she received emergency treatment had he known of her injuries. Hamptlon died while her mother drove her home to Barstow.

At the time of Hamptlon's abortion, Steir was on medical probation for not disclosing previous discipline on an application for hospital privileges and for negligence involving earlier procedures. Steir surrendered his license to practice in 1997.

In court on Friday, Hamptlon's family said Steir deserved stiff punishment. Ben Hamptlon told Sherman he sometimes pulls his car to the side of the road, looks at his daughter's picture and cries.

Steir deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, he said.

"The Bible says do not kill, that's what the Bible says, and he killed my daughter," he said.

Doris Hamptlon said her grandson, 7-year-old Curtis Bullorck, still would have a mother if Steir had warned Sharon Hamptlon about what he had done.

Before he was sentenced, Steir took responsibility for Hamptlon's death. Doctors swear an oath requiring, in part, that they not harm patients, he said.

"While I meant no harm, I did harm," he said. "I'm deeply, deeply sorry."

Sherman noted the dozens of letters sent by Steir's friends and supporters. They describe Steir as a kind, compassionate doctor who dedicated his life to helping women.

At times, because of anti-abortion protests, U.S. marshals escorted Steir to and from work while he wore a bulletproof vest, the letters explained. Supporters praised Steir's low rate of complications in providing more than 40,000 abortions throughout his career.

But Sherman said Steir had established a pattern of problems in practicing medicine and had not learned from his mistakes, even when disciplined by state medical officials. Through negligence, Steir killed a mother in the prime of her life, she said.

His patients deserved better treatment, she said.

Raymond Smith can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (909) 782-7528.

Published 5/27/2000