Gag order sought by women accused in cut-from-womb case

Left to Right: Desiree Figueroa, Clarisa Figueroa

Attorneys representing two Chicago women charged in the deaths of a mother and a child cut from her womb are asking for a gag order in the case.

The Cook County Public Defender's office made the request during a status hearing Thursday before Judge Peggy Chiampis. The judge says she will rule on the request after hearing arguments from both sides.

Forty-six-year-old Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter, 26-year-old Desiree, are accused of luring 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez to Clarisa Figueroa's home by offering to give her baby clothes, and then strangling her and cutting the baby from her womb. Clarisa Figueroa then went to a hospital with the brain-damaged newborn, claiming it was hers.

Attorneys for husband Yovani Lopez, who lost his wife and son, say the lawyers representing the Figueroa women are attempting to silence Ochoa-Lopez's family.