A Nevada woman spent 2 years in prison for manslaughter after losing her pregnancy, and after being offered $100,000, she’s won a $1.6 million payout

Patience Rousseau has been awarded a $1.6 million settlement after spending two years in prison for a manslaughter conviction that was later overturned. The payout follows an initial offer of just $100,000 from Nevada authorities, which her legal team successfully challenged.

As detailed by LADbible, the case dates back to 2018, when Rousseau was 26 years old and struggling with homelessness and drug addiction while raising two sons. After learning she was pregnant, she was unable to make the 165 mile journey to Reno to seek an abortion.

Rousseau researched methods online and tried lifting heavy objects and consuming cinnamon in an attempt to end the pregnancy herself. Two months later, she gave birth to a stillborn baby boy she named Abel and buried him in her garden.

Her conviction under a 1911 law did not hold up on appeal

Authorities charged her under a Nevada law from 1911, which prohibited women from intentionally ending a pregnancy after 24 weeks using drugs. In 2019, she was found guilty and sentenced to up to eight years in prison, making her the first person ever convicted under that statute.

Rousseau served two years behind bars before her lawyers successfully appealed the conviction in 2021. The legal team argued there was no evidence that her drug use caused the miscarriage or that she intended to end the pregnancy through drug use. They also said she did not know how far along she was when she lost the baby.

The process of seeking compensation for her time in prison was long and difficult. “They fought so much to avoid paying me,” Rousseau, now 34, told The Nevada Independent. She added that the experience affected her family as well, saying, “I went through so much and so did my children,” and, “It’s not fair.”

Her civil rights attorney, Paola Armeni, criticized the state’s handling of the case, noting that the prosecution took place under a law that existed before women were allowed to vote in Nevada. “The trauma of all of it was pretty horrendous,” Armeni said.

Rousseau has said she wants to move on from the experience entirely. “I don’t ever want to come back to Nevada again,” she said, adding that she does not want to see anyone in Winnemucca again and that “They ruined it for me.”

After legal fees, Rousseau received $1.2 million from the $1.6 million settlement. She plans to pay off her house in South Dakota, buy a car for her mother, and open a shop selling rare aquatic plants and animals.