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| FILE - In this March 8, 2010 file photo, Dr. Kermit Gosnell is seen during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News at his attorney's office in Philadelphia. Gosnell was found guilty Monday, May 13, 2013 of found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive but acquitted in the death of a fourth baby. Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a patient. |
PHILADELPHIA
(AP) -- An abortion doctor was convicted Monday of first-degree murder
and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who were
delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, "house of
horrors" clinic.
In a case that became a
grisly flashpoint in the nation's abortion debate, Dr. Kermit Gosnell,
72, was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose
death of an abortion patient. He was cleared in the death of a fourth
baby, who prosecutors say let out a whimper before the doctor cut the
spinal cord.
Gosnell, who portrayed himself as
an advocate for poor and desperate women in an impoverished West
Philadelphia neighborhood, appeared hopeful before the verdict was read
and calm afterward.
The jury reached its
verdict on its 10th day of deliberations. It will return May 21 to hear
evidence on whether Gosnell should get the death penalty.
Gosnell
attorney Jack McMahon called it a "very difficult case" to defend and
said there was "a little bit of feeling on the defense part of what
salmon must feel swimming upstream."
"There's a
lot of emotion. You have the baby factor, which is a big problem. The
media has been overwhelmingly against him," he said. But noting that
Gosnell was cleared on some of the charges, McMahon said the jurors
"obviously took their job seriously."
Prosecutors
looked elated, but District Attorney Seth Williams declined comment
until after the sentencing phase, citing a gag order.
Former
clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal
abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit, that he delivered babies
who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his
assistants dispatched the newborns by "snipping" their spines, as he
referred to it.
"Are you human?" prosecutor Ed
Cameron snarled during closing arguments. "To med these women up and
stick knives in the backs of babies?"
Gosnell
was also convicted of infanticide, racketeering and more than 200 counts
of violating Pennsylvania's abortion laws by performing third-term
abortions or failing to counsel women 24 hours in advance. The courtroom
was locked for more than 30 minutes as the verdicts were read and the
jurors polled one by one.
His co-defendant,
former clinic employee Eileen O'Neill, was convicted of taking part in a
corrupt organization and illegally billing for her services as if she
were a licensed doctor.
The jury foreman let out big sigh before the verdicts were read and looked stressed. Another juror was seen crying.
The
gruesome details came out more than two years ago during an
investigation of prescription drug trafficking at Gosnell's clinic.
Investigators said it was a foul-smelling "house of horrors" with bags
and bottles of fetuses, including jars of severed feet, along with
bloodstained furniture, dirty medical instruments, and cats roaming the
premises.
Pennsylvania authorities had failed
to conduct routine inspections of all its abortion clinics for 15 years
by the time Gosnell's facility was raided. In the scandal's aftermath,
two top state health officials were fired, and Pennsylvania imposed
tougher rules for clinics.
Four former clinic
employees pleaded guilty to murder and four more to other charges. They
include Gosnell's wife, Pearl, a cosmetologist who helped perform
abortions.
Both sides in the highly charged abortion debate endorsed the verdict.
"This
has helped more people realize what abortion is really about," said
David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life
Committee. He said he hopes the case results in more states passing
bills that prohibit abortion "once the unborn child can feel pain."
Supporters
of legalized abortion said the case was a preview of what poor,
desperate young women could face if abortion is driven underground with
more restrictive laws.
"Kermit Gosnell has
been found guilty and will get what he deserves. Now, let's make sure
these women are vindicated by delivering what all women deserve: access
to the full range of health services including safe, high-quality and
legal abortion care," said Ilyse G. Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice
America.
Midway through the six-week trial,
anti-abortion activists accused the mainstream media of deliberately
ignoring the case. Major news organizations denied it, though a number
promptly sent reporters to cover the trial. About 30 reporters were in
court for the verdict.
After prosecutors
rested their five-week case, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart threw
out for lack of evidence three of seven murder counts involving aborted
fetuses. That left the jury to weigh charges involving fetuses
identified as Baby A, Baby C, Baby D and Baby E.
Prosecution
experts said one was nearly 30 weeks along when the abortion took
place, and was so big that Gosnell allegedly joked the baby could "walk
to the bus." A second baby was said to be alive for about 20 minutes
before a clinic worker snipped the neck. A third was born in a toilet
and was moving before another clinic employee severed the spinal cord,
according to testimony.
Baby E let out a
whimper before Gosnell cut the neck, prosecutors alleged. Gosnell was
acquitted in that baby's death, the only one of the four in which no one
testified to seeing the baby killed.
Gosnell's attorney argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.
Gosnell
did not testify, and his lawyer called no witnesses in his defense. But
McMahon branded prosecutors "elitist" and "racist" for pursuing his
client, who is black and whose patients were mostly poor minorities.
"I
wanted to be an effective, positive force in the minority community,"
Gosnell told The Philadelphia Daily News in a 2010 interview. "I believe
in the long term I will be vindicated."
The
defense also contended that the 2009 death of 41-year-old Karnamaya
Mongar of Woodbridge, Va., a Bhutanese immigrant who had been given
repeated doses of Demerol and other powerful drugs to sedate her and
induce labor, was caused by unforeseen complications and did not amount
to murder, as prosecutors charged.
Bernard
Smalley, a lawyer for the woman's family, said he now hopes to bring
"some sense of justice and quiet to this family that's been through so
much."
Gosnell still faces federal drug
charges. Authorities said that he ranked third in the state for
OxyContin prescriptions and that he left blank prescription pads at his
office and let staff members make them out to cash-paying patients.
He
performed thousands of abortions over a 30-year career, some on
patients as young as 13. Authorities said the medical practice alone
netted him about $1.8 million a year, much of it in cash. Authorities
found $250,000 hidden in a bedroom when they searched his house. Gosnell
also owned a beach home and several rental properties.
"He created an assembly line with no regard for these women whatsoever," Cameron said. "And he made money doing that."
