Pregnant Woman Beaten with Metal Bat in Targeted Attack: Police

What you're watching is the wild. surveillance footage of two hooded. figures, one apparently carrying a. [music] baseball bat who authorities. believe are connected to the savage. attack on a pregnant woman out in. Wisconsin. [music]. And these suspects, they're apparently. still at large. We have the story, the. details, the condition of this woman and. her unborn child. All of that for you. right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

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is to even say, wait until you get the. footage in this investigation, okay? Because this was apparently caught on. tape. What you're seeing, this is Ring. doorbell footage that was capturing two. apparent suspects wearing hoods, [snorts] one appearing to carry a bat. This was all outside of a group home. where the victim in this case, Gianna. Lacy, had been working as a caregiver. This is when the apparent attack went. down. I mean, she was reportedly just. finishing up her third shift right. before 7 a.m. And you could see the.

individuals kind of run off screen. Now, these people have apparently been. identified by Giana as a man and a. woman. Although, to be clear, there have. been no arrests at the time of this. recording, which I want to get into why. that's the case. And this also appears. to be the even more chilling part. Gianna, who had to be taken to the. hospital, and this was along with her. unborn child, she spoke to WISN12 from. her hospital bed, and she said, quote, "They just immediately knocked me to the. ground, started swinging the bat, stomping me with their feet." And she.

added, get this, she was starting to. kill the baby, to get the baby. As a. pregnant person, you feel like you're. safe, like no one is going to touch you. This is what Gianna said. And obviously, that's not the case. And you know what? She was reportedly trying to protect her. stomach from the attackers. It's pretty. horrifying. I don't know if it gets more. horrifying than that. And in terms of. who may have done this, Gianna claims. that she recognized the woman. According. to her, this was some sort of alleged. stalker that was connected to some sort.

of dispute over a relationship. Apparently doesn't know who the man is. But again, at the time of this. recording, there have been no arrests. Why? Now, according to WISN, Gianna may. have a long road to recovery. The baby. is stable. She's been released from the. hospital. This is according to TMJ4. Telling a reporter for the outlet on. Monday, Giana said, "I'm better today. Yesterday was a little bit better as. well." And she added, "My baby is fine. he is fine and I just have to say thank. goodness for that. Now, there has been a. GoFundMe that has been set up here and.

we're going to put it up on the screen. if you are interested in donating. But. it says Giana is a devoted mother of two. children and is currently pregnant with. her third. She also works as a caretaker. providing daily care, compassion, and. support to other people's loved ones. Yesterday morning, while simply leaving. work and trying to provide for her. family, Giana experienced an unthinkable. and horrific act of violence. As she. walked outside toward her vehicle, one. male and one female were waiting for her. and brutally attacked her. She was.

beaten with a metal baseball bat and. repeatedly kicked and stomped on, including blows to her stomach, face, and entire body. Now, this next part, this is before the update as we. mentioned, but it says, "Ganna is. currently hospitalized where both she. and her unborn child are being closely. monitored. This traumatic incident has. left her physically injured, emotionally. shaken, and unable to work at this time. In addition to being pregnant, Giana has. two young children who depend on her, and due to her injuries and recovery,

she will not be able to financially. provide for her family during this. difficult period. We created this. GoFundMe to help support Giana and her. children with medical related expenses, basic living costs, and financial. stability as she focuses on healing and. recovery. Any contribution, no matter. the amount, will help ease the burden. during this incredibly painful time. If. you're unable to donate, please consider. sharing and keeping Giana and her. children in your thoughts and prayers. But again, the suspects still at the. time of this taping still at large. Why?

What is going to happen here? How. important is that surveillance footage. to capture them and prosecute them? And. anybody with information is asked to. contact the Rine Police, the. department's violent crime unit is. reportedly handling the investigation. And according to TMJ4, they may be. providing an update this week on. suspects, arrests, charges. This is. according to Sergeant Alicia Mitchell. Okay, time to bring in Jack Rice, criminal defense attorney, former. prosecutor, former CIA officer to talk.

about this. Jack, thank you so much for. coming on. Um, I want to start with the. surveillance footage, right? This Ring. doorbell footage. How effectively can. that be used to track down suspects? I. mean, particularly in this case. >> Oh, it's extraordinary, isn't it? I. mean, when we look at the changes that. have happened over the last few years, we have seen so many instances where it. is video cameras, it is ringing cameras, it is CCTV that have come from. businesses. All of these can change. everything in terms of identifying. suspects. And in fact, one of the things.

that we see regularly is when there is a. murder scene or an attempted murder. scene, one of the first things you'll. see is they will send out officers to. canvas an area. And that's the language. they use. They're canvasing an area. looking for cameras because they're. ubiquitous. They're everywhere. And so. that can make a massive difference. So. with that footage of potential suspects, what do they do next? If they have the. potential clothing, the uh what they. were what they were up to, what they. look like, a time frame, what do they.

then do? Investigators. >> from from there it can it can easily at. least move in a particular direction. You know what you're looking for. One of. the problems that officers face and I. think about this as a former prosecutor. is that when you come upon a crime. scene, you're almost at ground zero. Yes. But the question is is you have 360. degrees of opportunities. You have to go. everywhere and you have to figure out. everything. Whereas now what you know. you're looking for is you're looking for.

a man of a certain size and a certain. age and a certain look and a certain. face and a woman of of similar. requirements. And so you now go looking. for them. You can also take those photos. to anybody and everybody that she has. had contact with and say who is this? And sometimes those are relatives, sometimes those are friends, sometimes. those are people in work environments. All of those give huge opportunities for. law enforcement to really reach out and. figure out who's next. And that's.

exactly what they're doing right now. >> At the time of this recording, there. have been no arrests or an announcement. uh saying who the suspects are. Are you. surprised by that given again the. footage and given the alleged. description by the victim here who who. described maybe knowing who this if this. is in fact a a female in the footage. maybe knowing who that is. How come we. haven't seen any arrests? >> Yeah, I I actually am somewhat. surprised. Racine is small. It's not a. large city. So, as a result of that,

this is one of those circumstances where. you would assume you would have found. something more quickly. and and that. does make me scratch my head, probably. making the the officers scratch their. heads, too. Now, there's always the. possibility, we have seen this sometimes. in the upper Midwest, that people will. flee the state. So, they'll leave. Wisconsin, they may come to Minnesota, they may go to Illinois, they may end up. in Chicago, they could end up in Miami, wherever that happens to be. And so, you. can't make contact with people. At the. same time, it does seem somewhat odd to.

me, especially when she has the ability. and has at least seemingly been able to. identify at least the woman and say, "This is who she is." So, they should be. able to go looking for her. Of course, one of the limitations that come with. that is we see a lot of circumstances. where we have aliases, right? You have. AKAs. And so, that happens a lot. Now. you have to go back and start checking. and see who else is using that AKA. How. do we go back and you start looking.

those directions too? >> And by the way, this is based a lot on. the account of the survivor here and and. you wonder they have to judge the. credibility of that as well. They have. to see if that backs up. I mean because. there are aspects to her account. First. of all, the fact that you're talking. about a pregnant woman who was seemingly. beaten with a bat is horrific. But if. you take the allegations as true, there. seem this seems to be targeted. I mean, let let's take that piece by piece for a. second. Putting aside her comments, this.

happening outside of her work at that. time, early morning hours, does this. look targeted to you? >> Well, it is. I mean, according to her. allegations, there's no other way to say. time, place, opportunity. They knew she. was going to be there at this particular. time and they came with this intention. in mind. They came with the weapon in. place. This is what they were trying to. do. And so that piece really is. important. And yet you make a very good.

point. One of the things that the police. are always assessing is that what you. have is, and this is a language we use. as criminal defense attorneys, is you. have a complaining witness. That doesn't. necessarily mean that they're a victim. You don't know anything until you know. it, right? Because if you go in assuming. that everything is true, then you're. going down a particular path and you may. be wrong. We have seen circumstances in. the past where people will make claims. or allegations or claim to be a victim. and actually weren't. I'm not suggesting.

that isn't the case here. But what I am. saying is that officers have to assess. all of it to say, does this make sense? Is this credible? does does the evidence. do does everything else that we have. support all of these allegations? And. and that's a piece of this too. And so. that's probably a part of what the. officers are doing. There's, for. instance, we've seen this in many murder. cases, you and I have worked on over the. years and we've talked about over the. years where you will have the grieving.

spouse, the grieving husband, the. grieving wife, and and they're coming in. saying, "We just need the police to find. the the suspect." when in fact they were. the ones who ultimately became the. suspect and sometimes even the killer. themselves. So, you have to be able to. listen to somebody and say, "Let's. assess the credibility of the person in. front of us and see if all of those uh. dots can actually be put together.". >> In other words, it's remarkable to have. a survivor's account. You don't usually. have that many times. We're talking.

about people who were uh killed as a. result of these crimes. So, to have that. account is tremendous, but you still. have to weigh the credibility. You still. have to assess the credibility. Um the. these purported statements about trying. to kill the baby. What do you take away. from that? >> Well, you know, very strange to me. because clearly this is if if we accept. all this as true. Then what that tells. us is there is a relationship between. these two. They're it's not just random. And clearly if we accept this, this. can't be random because of all the.

things we've just discussed. And yet at. the same time it tells us that there's. got to be more of a relationship which. tells us also who are your friends, who. are the people you're in contact with, who are the other people who would know. all of these people. It should be easier. to find this person or at least getting. in that right direction because if. you're going after the baby, is there is. there a reason? Is this a a love. triangle of sorts? Is this somebody who. actually wanted this baby to be killed?

Those are all questions that have to be. asked. And frankly, I suspect these. officers have gone back multiple times. because again, when when I read this. story, when I look at everything that. we're seeing, I'm scratching my head. There's a couple of things that just. >> don't make sense to me because you're. going after them with the bad the sur. frankly the survival of this the ability. sadly to kill somebody. It does not take. a lot with the right kind of weapon and.

and a bat is the right kind of weapon. So those are one of those questions that. I always am going to be asking in a in a. homicide or attempted homicide case. based on everything that's been reported. based on the footage that you have seen. and we don't know if there is other foot. footage out there. What are the. potential charges that these two. individuals may be facing? Maybe would. they would they be charged the same? What are they would be charged with. respect to her, with respect to the. baby? Talk to us about that. >> Oh boy. I mean, there there's a couple.

of interesting questions there. One of. those is I would expect they would. probably charge these out as as uh. first-degree attempted murder. And there. would be conspiracy between both of. those two. If they were in fact both. arrested and based upon what were what. was argued, it sounds that they were. both involved, they would both be. charged with first degree. and you could. be looking at up to 60 years uh that in. Wisconsin. Uh at the same time, even if. they didn't go for that firstdegree. attempted murder, they could go for a.

reckless and and reckless is actually I. think far more easy to prove simply. because of the nature of the allegations. themselves using a bat. The likelihood. of that could happen is really there. But, you know, opportunity, time, place, weapon. That sure sounds like ly laying. in weight. You're you're you know where. you're going. You know how you're going. to do it. That could reach that level of. of uh of uh first degree if they decide.

to go down that path. And just to be. clear, any is it anytime a pregnant. person is attacked that potentially they. could be charged with attempted murder. of that unborn child or is it because. some of the specific circumstances that. are being alleged here? >> Yeah, in this particular case it sounds. like that was the purpose, right? And if. that's why they are going there, then. that may raise it to a level. It's. always an interesting and dicey space,

right? because you can add the politics. of this where you're saying the ability. for a woman to actually make a decision. when it comes to an abortion as an. example and say can you charge them with. with murder or attempted murder. themselves and there's been there's been. states that have been trying to argue. that potentially and so then you're on. the other side of this saying are these. two individuals is this one individual. and and how do you do both Wisconsin is. in that special place I think because of. the attack directed specifically at the. unborn child that they would probably. get them on both.

>> What do you expect we're going to hear. from law enforcement? I mean, there was. reporting that they may make some sort. of announcement uh this week. We'll see. But how do you think that they're going. to handle that? And would they announce. a suspect? Because isn't it a two-edged. sword? Like if you announce who they. are, you know, there's a manhunt for. these two people, be on the lookout, but. that alerts them. That tips them off, right? So, what would you imagine law. enforcement would say right now? >> Well, you know, that cuts two ways, right? it does tip them off, but for. whatever reason, if you can't find them.

and the ability to get out there and. say, "I'm looking for John Smith." And. and you say that as clearly as you do, that can sometimes raise the pressure on. somebody like this on a nationwide basis. because those people know people. And if. that person was somehow connected to. Racine or wherever they were, then all. of a sudden it can change how not just. the local police are looking for them, but how the national police. It's so. interesting how how the world in the. criminal justice system has changed over.

the years. I mean, you look back over. many decades now, and this is a stretch, but follow my my logic for a sec. One of. the things that happened with like a Ted. Bundy where Ted Bundy was going and. killing and then moving to a new. location and killing and then moving to. a new location and attacking. The thing. is is that there was a time when there. wasn't a cohesive clean uh um. communication that ran between uh. different jurisdictions. That's changed. a lot. And so all of a sudden now when. you go out and do an AP that goes.

nationwide, the ability to stop somebody. just for a traffic ticket, the ability. to stop somebody for speeding, looking. for a particular person, looking for a. particular uh car, a particular license. plate, all of a sudden what happens in. Reine can be looked at in Green Bay or. can be looking at in Philadelphia or can. be looking at in Cleveland. and and. that's much different than we used to. have. And I think that would be one of. the reasons where if you're stuck and.

all you're saying is we're looking for. John Smith. That can help on a. nationwide basis to find John Smith. >> By the way, just was thinking about. this. I've been covering a lot of like. firearms related cases and shootings. And you know, sometimes when you have. those cases, you can track the serial. number, you can track the purchase. If. you're dealing with a bat, does it make. it more difficult to assess who these. people are or you know where they are or. tracking their movements or tracking. their actions? >> My goodness, yes. And it's a great. question. And I mean, one of the.

examples, and this is the case that went. up to to the courts of appeals and even. the Supremes is the issue of ghost guns, right? And the thing about ghost guns. was that you don't have the ability to. track them in the way that you do other. firearms that have serial numbers on. them. There's a reason that in every. jurisdiction in America, taking off a. serial number off off of a weapon. actually is usually a felony anyway. Now, you can still usually get to it. just in case people are curious, but at. the same time, there's a reason that you.

can track these and people want to track. them. the ability to go back and look. and this has happened sometimes people. can look at a firearm whether that's. something as simple as a 38 going up to. an M4 AK-47s what you can do is you can. actually track a weapon sometimes and. see how it's been used in multiple. crimes over time because they've been. able to figure it out and that's sort of. a a reverse analysis to go back and see. this is this is one of the ways and this. is one of the ways they would like to be.

able to do that in a case like this. But. with a baseball [snorts] bat, I mean, there's probably a lot of them. They're. not that distinct. And the ability to. track and say, are we going to look at. every aluminum baseball bat that was. purchased in a 100 mile area, a thousand. mile area, and exactly how do you do. that? >> It's a good point. It's a good point. Uh. Jack Rice, we're going to be on top of. this. Thank you so much uh for taking. the time, bringing in your wealth of. expertise as always. And uh I have to.

just say I I'm so happy uh based on the. reporting that this mother is making a. recovery, that she's been released from. the hospital, and that this child um you. know has survived this attack. Um and. according to her is doing fine. Um you. know, our hearts and our prayers and our. thoughts are going with them. This is. just a heinous heinous situation. Um but. thank you so much, Jack. Good to see. you. >> Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your.

podcast. You can follow us now on. Peacock. We're putting episodes out. there as well. You can follow [music] me. on X or Instagram. You can also check. out my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber. Live. Until next time, everybody, I'm. Jesse [music] Weber. and stay safe.