Melrose Restaurateur Pleads to Drugging Pregnant Girlfriend to Kill Baby

A former Southland restaurateur pleaded no contest today to attempted murder for trying to kill his then-girlfriend’s unborn baby - - who she ultimately miscarried -- by administering a drug that can be used to terminate pregnancies.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, Joshua Woodward, 43, is expected to be sentenced to nine years in prison when he returns to court Jan. 29, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

According to prosecutors, the Florida resident -- who co-owned the former Table 8 restaurant in Los Angeles -- tried to induce his girlfriend to have a miscarriage via the use of misoprostol, a powdery drug whose uses include inducing labor and terminating early stage pregnancies.

Prosecutors said Woodward unsuccessfully pleaded with his girlfriend to have an abortion but she refused. He then administered the drug three times during September and October 2009 in hopes of inducing a miscarriage, prosecutors said.

Not realizing the woman had already miscarried, Woodward showed up on a fourth occasion and was caught by police trying to dispose of a baggie containing the drug, according to prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian said earlier that Woodward offered the woman “financial incentives to have an abortion” and then went behind closed doors “looking for evil ways” to eliminate the fetus.

On one occasion, Woodward administered the drug in juice, then researched the “most effective ways to get it into her bloodstream” when the woman did not miscarry and administered the drug to her on two other occasions, the prosecutor said.

City News Service