Elmendorf airman charged with forcing wife's miscarriage

AP

A court-martial is nearly finished for an airman at Elmendorf Air Force Base accused of giving his wife ulcer medication and causing her to miscarry their unborn child.

Airman 1st Class Scott Boie of Milton, Wis., is charged with four counts, including assault and causing the death of the unborn child. He’s also charged with stealing a pickup and burning it.

Air Force prosecutors say Boie put the drug Meisoprostol in his wife’s food without her knowledge. High doses of the drug can cause the uterus to rupture and cause brain damage or death of a fetus.

Boie has denied through his attorney that the medication caused the miscarriage.

Air Force officials said the incidents described in the court-martial occurred between April and June last year.

Elmendorf spokesman Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester said the court-martial could conclude today or Saturday.

On Thursday, Boie’s wife, Caylinn, and friend Airman Ryan Bollinger testified. Both said Boie secretly gave his wife the ulcer medication.When Boie found out his wife was pregnant, he asked her to get an abortion, she said. They fought about it, she said, but she decided to keep the baby.

Evidence showed Boie’s computer had a Google search for "at-home abortion methods."

His wife testified she did not know of her husband’s plan to terminate the pregnancy.

Boie’s friend Bollinger testified he helped lace food with the medication and covered up use of the poisoning.

Air Force Deputy Staff Judge Shane Cohen told KTUU-TV that Bollinger testified under a grant of immunity

"What that means is that the convening authority has granted him immunity from the use of his testimony in any other judicial proceedings as long as he testified truthfully and did not perjure himself in court today," Cohen said.

Caylinn Boie miscarried and thought it was from natural causes, she said. A friend told her it was not an accident.

Caylinn taped a conversation with her husband and reported him to military investigators.

In the tape played Thursday, Boie was heard trying to persuade his wife to say she wanted to induce the abortion.

The defense is trying to establish that Caylinn Boie had a history of troubled pregnancies, and that her smoking may have induced the miscarriage.