Dr. Gosnell Abortion Trial Verdict and the Aftermath

From: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/05/13/kermit-gosnell-found-guilty-of-on-three-first-degree-murder-charges/


“Kermit Gosnell Found Guilty on Three First-Degree Murder Charges

by Steven Ertelt
Washington, DC
LifeNews.com
5/13/13

The jury in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell returned a verdict and found him guilty on three of the four first-degree murder charges he faced.

Gosnell was found guilty of killing Baby A, Baby C and Baby D and found not guilty of killing Baby E. He was also convicted on hundreds of lesser charges ranging from infanticide to running a corrupt organization.

The guilty verdict on these three counts subjects the abortion ‘doctor’ to the potential he will face the death penalty when a second jury considers his sentencing on the convictions. At minimum Gosnell will face three life terms in prison. The jury that will be tasked with sentencing Gosnell on the convictions will begin its work on May 21.

Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of patient Karnamaya Mongar, who died after a botched abortion. And he was found guilty on most of the more than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania’s informed consent law.

In total, Gosnell was found guilty of 21 out of 24 felony counts of illegal abortions beyond the 24 week limit and found guilty on all but 16 of 227 misdemeanor counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.

One local reporter covering the trial indicated Gosnell ‘heard verdict passively, with small bitter faced smiles.’ A Fox news reporter added, ‘Our Fox producer in the courtroom says Gosnell looked mad when the verdicts were read.’

Multiple reports indicate an assistant prosecutor sobbed as the verdict was read.

Below are the details related to the four babies Gosnell was charged with killing:

Baby Boy A was the biggest baby that Kareema Cross had ever seen delivered at Gosnell’s abortion ‘House of Horrors’ clinic in the four years she worked there. He was delivered to 17-year old Shaquana Abrams at 29.4 weeks gestation, according to an ultrasound record. Baby Boy A was so large, he did not fit into the plastic shoe box that Gosnell tossed him in. Cross said she saw the baby pull in his arms and legs while Gosnell explained the movements as ‘reflexes’ telling her the baby really didn’t move prior to cutting the baby’s neck. Baby Boy A was so large, Gosnell joked that ‘this baby is big enough to walk around with me or walk me to the bus stop.’ Cross and fellow employees Adrienne Moton and 15-year old Ashley Baldwin were all so ‘startled’ by the size of the baby that they all took photos of the baby with their cell phones.

Baby C was an intact baby of over 25-weeks gestation. Kareema Cross testified that she saw Baby C breathing and described the up and down chest movements she observed for 20 minutes. She told the court she saw Lynda Williams lift the baby’s arm and watched as the newborn drew it back on its own power. Afterwards, Williams inserted surgical scissors into the baby’s neck and ‘snipped’ the spinal cord. Gosnell was said to be in the room at the time. This baby’s murder charges were unintentionally dismissed in the place of Baby F, but were reinstated after Judge Minehart discovered his error.

Baby D was described by witnesses as 12-15 inches long with the head the size of a ‘big pancake’ when he was delivered into a toilet. Kareema Cross testified that she saw the baby struggling, using swimming motions in an attempt to get out of the toilet bowl. Adrienne Moton pulled the baby out and ‘snipped’ the neck, as Gosnell had taught her to do, while the mother watched. Gosnell has also been charged with Criminal Solicitation of Moton to commit murder of Baby D.

Baby E was estimated to be at least 23 weeks gestation and maybe more. After Baby E was delivered, teen Ashley Baldwin heard the baby cry and called Kareema Cross for help. Cross described the baby’s cry as a ‘whine.’ Baldwin said that Gosnell went into the room then came out with the baby—which now had an incision in its neck—and tossed it into the waste bin.

Gosnell is charged with four counts of first-degree murder for killing babies following delivery in an abortion process that involved ‘snipping’ their necks and spinal cords. He also faces a third-degree murder charge related to the death of a woman, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, from a botched legal abortion. Gosnell, who has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest.

The abortionist faces 258 counts total and other charges against him include one count of infanticide and one of racketeering, 24 counts of performing third-trimester abortions and 227 counts of failing to follow the 24-hour waiting period law before an abortion so women can consider its risks and alternatives.

Last week, the jury wanted to re-hear testimony from Adrienne Moton, a medical assistant who told the court in March that she snipped the spines of at least 10 babies during unorthodox abortions. And she said Dr. Kermit Gosnell and another employee did the same sipping technique.

Moton, the first employee to testify, sobbed as she recalled taking a cellphone photograph of one baby left in her work area. She thought he could have survived, given his size and pinkish color. She had measured him at nearly 30 weeks.

‘The aunt felt it was just best for her (the mother’s) future,’ Moton testified.

Gosnell later joked that the baby was so big he could have walked to the bus stop, she said.

Jurors saw Moton’s photograph on a large screen in the courtroom, which took on a bizarre look Tuesday as she testified near a hospital bed with stirrups and other aging obstetric equipment. Denied the chance to bring jurors to the shuttered inner-city clinic, prosecutors are instead recreating a patient room in court.

Moton, 35, sobbed as she described her work at the clinic. Because of problems at home, she had moved in with Gosnell and his third wife during high school, and she went to work for him from 2005 to 2008. She earned about $10 an hour, off the books, to administer drugs, perform sonograms, help with abortions and dispose of fetal remains. Workers got $20 bonuses for second-term abortions on Saturdays, when a half-dozen were sometimes performed.

She once had to kill a baby delivered in a toilet, cutting its neck with scissors, she said. Asked if she knew that was wrong, she said, ‘At first I didn’t.’

If sentenced for the convictions, Gosnell could face the death penalty following the convictions by the jury in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Under Pennsylvania law, all 12 of the jurors must reach a unanimous verdict on any of the murder counts Gosnell faces for him to be convicted on any of them. Each of the elements of a charged crime must be proven to each juror beyond reasonable doubt for that juror to vote to convict on that count and one reluctant juror could lead to a mistrial on any of the first-degree murder charges.

Since prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty in the case, the jury will only be deciding whether Gosnell is guilty related to the charges. If convicted, a second jury will be impaneled to determine sentencing under the penalty phase of the trial. During this phase, the judge has already instructed jurors to only consider guilt or innocence.

Given the number of charges Gosnell faces, and the fact that Gosnell has a co-defendant the jury is considering for conviction as well, the jury may take a longer period of time to arrive at a verdict on each of the 250-plus charges.

Most of the focus in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell is on the murder charges he faces for killing babies in abortion-infanticides and for killing a woman in a botched abortion.

But Gosnell faces more than 200 charges related to violating Pennsylvania state law that requires him to provide women with informed consent 24 hours prior to the abortion. Gosnell is charged with breaking that law by not giving women information about abortion risks and alternatives 24 hours prior to the abortion.

Eight other defendants who are former staffers of Gosnell’s Philadelphia abortion clinic have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are awaiting sentencing.

Previously, the judge in the case reinstated one of the murder charges and dropped another. Gosnell’s defense attorney asked the judge to drop three of the charges for killing the babies and the judge agreed with the contention there was not enough evidence to convict Gosnell on those charges. Another charge of infanticide was also dropped.

One of the dropped charges involved a 28-week-old baby Gosnell killed and whose remains were kept in an abortion clinic freezer.

Common pleas court Judge Jeffrey Minehart also dropped five counts of corpse abuse at the request of his defense attorney and did not explain his ruling dropping any of the charges.

The defense had argued that there were no live births at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Center abortion clinic and contends the babies died during abortions and their necks were snipped afterwards. But former Gosnell staffers testified they saw signs of life even after the abortion had been completed—saying the babies ‘jumped’ and ‘screamed’ and tried to escape.

Gosnell, whose squalid ‘house of horrors’ abortion clinic has surprised even investigative officials, has had an almost flippant attitude toward his macabre abortion practices which shocked the nation.

‘The Gosnell case is a watershed moment for the issue of abortion,’ said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation. ‘The discovery of his horrific practices helped shed light on an abortion industry that has run amok without oversight or accountability for decades, and has prompted significant changes in abortion laws and attitudes toward enforcement in several states.’

Previously, Gosnell’s wife Pearl pleaded guilty to assisting her husband at his Philadelphia abortion center where he killed a woman in a botched abortion and has killed hundreds of babies in abortion-infanticides. Pearl Gosnell was considering a plea deal similar to the one several of Gosnell’s former abortion center employees have made where they have pleaded guilty to receive a lesser sentence in exchange for testifying against Gosnell.

Pearl also worked at the abortion center Gosnell ran that had him kill and injure women in failed abortions and kill perhaps hundreds of babies in grisly infanticides by birthing them and ‘snipping’ their spinal cords. She worked at the Women’s Medical Society abortion business her husband ran as a full-time medical assistant from 1982 until she married Kermit Gosnell in 1990, when she switched to only working on Sundays.

At that time, the abortion business was officially closed but would do its latest-term abortions if possible. The grand jury report indicates Pearl Gosnell testified that she alone helped Kermit do abortions on Sundays when she would ‘help do the instruments’ in the operating room despite no medical training.

The murder charges also came in connection with the botched abortion death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died at Gosnell’s abortion clinic after a failed abortion. Mongar died November 20, 2009, after overdosing on anesthetics prescribed by the doctor.

Mongar’s family filed a lawsuit against Gosnell’s abortion business seeking damages. Gosnell and several staffers at his abortion center, including Pearl, were arrested in January after a grand jury indicted them on multiple charges after officials raided his abortion business following a woman’s death and discovered a ‘shop of horrors’ filled with bags of bodies and body parts of deceased unborn children and babies killed in infanticides.

Meanwhile, women have spoken out about their treatment and one woman says she was drugged and tied up and forced to have an abortion. Authorities searching the facility found bags and bottles holding aborted babies scattered around the building, jars containing babies’ severed feet lining a shelf, as well as filthy, unsanitary furniture and equipment.

The grand jury investigation also shows state officials did nothing when reports came in about problems at Gosnell’s abortion center, which has upset incoming pro-life Governor Tom Corbett.

Gosnell’s abortion center was inspected only after a federal drug raid in 2010. It was the first time the facility had been inspected in 17 years because state officials ignored complaints and failed to visit Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society for years.

The abortion industry has been forced to suspend two abortion businesses that employed embattled abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell, who has been the subject of national controversy over his abortion business in Philadelphia.”

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From: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/05/13/gosnell-attorney-blames-media-baby-factor-for-conviction/

“Gosnell Attorney Blames Media, ‘Baby Factor’ For Conviction

by Steven Ertelt
Philadelphia, PA
LifeNews.com
5/13/13

Kermit Gosnell’s attorney Jack McMahon is curiously blaming the media for today’s conviction of the abortion practitioner on three counts of murder related to abortion-infanticides.

He said he was confident in the legal system but blamed ‘The baby factor’ for the convictions. He also blamed the media, which is odd given the stunning lack of attention it gave to the Gosnell murder trial over the last several weeks.

‘The media has been overwhelmingly against [Gosnell],’ he told reporters.

Still, McMahon applauded the jury for taking its job seriously: ‘They didn’t just come down kneejerk and find him guilty of everything, this jury, five murder counts were not guilty, so they obviously took their job seriously.’

McMahon was previously ‘furious’ over a Fox News special report that presented an hour-long backgrounder on Gosnell and his abortion business, as well as the charges he faced in the murder trial. McMahon claims the special was designed to sway members of the jury, even though jurors have been instructed to not watch or read any media coverage. Later, none of the jurors said they saw the special.”

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From: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/05/13/new-york-times-reports-kermit-gosnell-guilty-of-killing-fetuses/

“New York Times Reports Kermit Gosnell Guilty of Killing ‘Fetuses’

by Steven Ertelt
New York, NY
LifeNews.com
5/13/13

Someone get the staff of the New York Times down to NYU for a Biology 101 class. The Gray Lady reported today that abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of killing ‘fetuses.’

Never mind that a ‘fetus’ is an unborn child in the womb, not a baby who was killed after purposefully being birthed in an abortion process that is essentially infanticide. Unlike what the Times reported, a jury of 12 people, who clearly paid attention in seventh grade Life Science class, convicted him of three counts of first-degree murder.

But, as the Washington Free Beacon first noted, the New York Times referred to those infants as ‘fetuses’ six times in the paper’s report on the conviction.

From the NYT:

1) The verdict came after a five-week trial in which the prosecution and the defense battled over whether the fetuses Dr. Gosnell was charged with killing were alive when they were removed from their mothers.

2) Dr. Gosnell was acquitted of one first-degree murder charge involving an aborted fetus.

3) Clinic workers who appeared as witnesses for the prosecution said some of the fetuses appeared to move or make noises.

4) Dr. Gosnell kept the severed feet of aborted fetuses in dozens of jars around his clinic.

5) Mr. McMahon argued that there was no evidence that any of the fetuses were born alive.

6) Mr. McMahon also dismissed prosecutors’ arguments that one of the fetuses, Baby C, was alive after being aborted.

My use of red. The Left loves to play word games. Never identify a baby as a baby if one can use another term. Thus fetus instead of baby throughout! Some things do not change!

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From: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/05/13/pro-life-groups-elated-after-abortion-doc-gosnell-convicted-of-murder/

“Pro-Life Groups Elated After Abortion Doc Gosnell Convicted of Murder

by Steven Ertelt
Washington, DC
LifeNews.com
5/13/13

Leading pro-life groups are delighted abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of killing three babies in horrific abortion-infanticide procedures.

LifeNews has chronicled various reactions from pro-life groups and activists and sampled them below:

‘Kermit Gosnell was convicted of murder for severing the necks of just-born babies, but those babies would have died just as painfully if he had killed them inside the womb, as most late-term abortionists do,’ commented National Right to Life President Carol Tobias. ‘The result is the same for the baby whether it meets its end in a shabby clinic like Gosnell’s or a brand new Planned Parenthood facility—a painful death.’

‘We are ecstatic about these verdicts. Justice was done. This could spell the end of Roe v. Wade,’ said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. ‘For the first time, America has gotten a long hard look at the horrors that go on inside abortion clinics. We see documentation of similar shoddy practices in other abortion clinics across our country. Gosnell is not alone by any means. Now it is time for America to do some real soul searching and decide whether the abortion cartel’s unaccountable and out-of-control abuses of vulnerable women are really how we want to treat each other. There are better ways to help women than to subject them to the kind of horrors found at abortion clinics in our nation. It’s time to end the inhumane and barbaric practice of abortion for good.’

Lila Rose of Live Action added: ‘Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s gruesome and inhuman crimes in Philadelphia cried out for justice, and now—for three of his four born and struggling victims, at least—justice has been served. Even as we celebrate this verdict, we honor and mourn as well those innocents who did not receive ‘their day in court’—and we must remember that Gosnell is not an outlier within the abortion industry. We cannot allow these ‘guilty’ verdicts, welcome as they are, to make us complacent when it comes to the continuing abuses happening even now in abortion facilities throughout our nation. We call upon Congress to investigate all those participating in or willing to participate in this kind of brutality toward vulnerable women and children, and end it.’

Michael Ciccocioppo, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation: ‘The Kermit Gosnell case is a tragedy on so many levels, not just for our Commonwealth but for our nation. Officials believe Gosnell actually killed hundreds of newborn babies and injured their mothers, but he destroyed most of the evidence. These were heinous crimes and Gosnell had to be held accountable.’

‘For the sake of all Gosnell’s victims, let us never forget the rampant disregard for life that was allowed to continue for decades in our state. We hope that in the future politics will not stand in the way of protecting the health and safety of women and newborns. In the wake of the Gosnell tragedy, Governor Tom Corbett and the state legislature took action to ensure that abortion facilities would be regularly inspected and would be subject to the same standards as outpatient surgery centers. This is really the most that can be done under the tragic U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which brought us abortion on demand and the unspeakable tragedy of Gosnell. It’s time to take a second look at Roe—in memory of Gosnell’s victims (It is time, past time to repeal Roe. It was never a constitutional decision!—my addition)’

Bryan Kemper of Stand True: Even if not on every count, I am thrilled today by the guilty verdict in the Gosnell murder trial; I have waited many years for justice to be served on behalf of babies being killed by abortionists. While this may be a small victory in the grand scheme of the abortion holocaust, it is an important victory for every baby who has ever been killed under the guise of choice. The ugliness of what abortion really is has had its mask peeled away and the truth about the violent and deadly abortion industry has been shown to the world. Gosnell was not a lone bad guy as so many in the abortion industry have tried to make him out to be: he is the face of abortion, the logical conclusion to the thought process that allows it in the first place. I wept as I realized that after 20 years of fighting abortion full time there is finally some legal justice for these precious babies and an abortionist is found guilty if killing children.

Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life: ‘The self-interested indifference of an unrepentant, unregulated, and unmonitored abortion industry stood front and center among the tragic events that led to the conviction of Kermit Gosnell. The legacy of Gosnell’s trial will be Big Abortion’s collusion in bringing about America’s ‘red-light district of medicine’—today’s back-alley abortion clinics and renegade abortion profiteers. Consistently pro-life Americans must fight Big Abortion as they attempt to block commonsense attempts to regulate and monitor abortion clinics where we know that some women and girls have suffered and even died. I applaud the verdict and thank all those who worked so hard to bring Gosnell to justice. We must now protect women and infants from an abortion industry that steadfastly refuses to police itself. How many women, girls, and infants must die before the abortion industry is held accountable?’

‘Both the National Abortion Federation and local Planned Parenthood knew of Gosnell’s grisly business, but they stayed silent. Meanwhile, Gosnell’s clinic went almost two decades without inspection as women and girls were victimize and subjected to dangerous and inhumane conditions,’ noted Dr. Yoest. ‘This case underscores why abortion clinics must be subjected to medically appropriate standards and regular inspections. And Kermit Gosnell is not the aberration that abortion advocates claim. Over the last three years at least 15 states have initiated investigations into the conditions and practices of abortion clinics. These investigations were triggered by women’s deaths, reports of dangerous and unsanitary practices that exposed women to injuries and infections, and infants born alive following attempted abortions.

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life: ‘The guilty verdict on charges of killing babies following abortion shows that the law recognizes a point at which the ‘right to choose’ must yield to the right to life, and also shows that abortionists don’t know where that point is. Such laws must be strengthened in every state.

‘Gosnell’s guilty verdict in the death of Karnamaya Mongar is different. Gosnell didn’t slit her neck but he did create conditions that caused her death. And Mongar is not the only mother harmed or killed in the hundreds of dangerous, unregulated, legal abortion clinics across our country. There are hundreds of Gosnells and they have to be stopped. The lessons to be learned from this case, and the actions that should follow upon it, are largely independent of the verdict rendered today. Those lessons and actions are summarized in my public statement about the case.’

Anna Higgins, J.D., director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council: ‘The jury’s verdict in the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell brings a just conclusion to a horrific case. The Gosnell case serves to highlight two major problems with the abortion industry in this country—its callous disregard for the health and safety of women and the inhumanity of abortion, especially late-term abortion.’

‘The murders of babies and of at least one woman at the hands of Gosnell could have been prevented had the Pennsylvania health department inspected the Gosnell facility immediately after receiving numerous complaints. Instead, the department ignored the dangerous conditions for 17 years. In order to protect women like Karnamaya Mongar and prevent infanticide from being practiced in this country, Congress must work with states to require abortion clinics to apply the same safety standards as those followed by other medical facilities, including veterinary offices.’

‘The greatest tragedy is that Kermit Gosnell is not alone. Exploitation of women and complete disregard for their health and well-being are problems endemic to the entire abortion industry,’ said SBA (Susan B. Anthony—my addition) List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. ‘There are numerous examples of negligence and even death in abortion facilities across the country. Now is the moment to realize that abortion is neither safe, nor rare. Abortion is a brutal, painful procedure, both for the child that it kills and the woman that it wounds. We must protect children both inside and outside the womb who experience unspeakable pain from abortion. Congress must address its role in protecting nationwide the human rights of children.’”