A New Hampshire man appeared in court Monday on charges that he killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child

A New Hampshire man appeared in court Monday on charges that he killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child by means of multiple blunt force injuries, the first time the state has charged someone with murder in the death of a fetus. William Kelly, 28, appeared in Carroll County Superior Court with his lawyer, Caroline Smith. He did not address the judge. Smith said she planned to file paperwork that Kelly was waiving his arraignment and pleading not guilty. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Mitchell Weinberg determined that Christine Falzone, 33, was about 35 to 37 weeks pregnant at the time of her death in December. The Legislature passed a bill in 2017 that defines a fetus at 20 weeks of development and beyond as a person for purposes of criminal prosecution of murder. Kelly initially was arrested in December on a single second-degree murder charge connected to Falzone’s death. Police said they found Falzone unconscious and not breathing at the home she shared with Kelly. It was not immediately known if Kelly was the father of the unborn child.