The judge in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial agreed to drop three charges of murder and five other charges after a presentation by the defense attorney.
Attorney Jack McMahon argued, in a hearing without the jury present, that there was insufficient evidence for any jury to convict on three of the seven murder charges involving infants. The judge agreed and dropped the three charges along with five counts of “corpse abuse.” Gosnell still faces four counts of murder in the deaths of three infants plus an additional murder charge in the death of Karnamaya Mongar.
The defense case, which has become clear during cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, is that none of the infants Gosnell is accused of murdering were actually born alive. However these claims have been contradicted by testimony from multiple clinic workers.
Just last week Kareema Cross, who worked at Gosnell’s clinic for four years, testified that she routinely saw Gosnell use his unique method of post-birth abortion on babies, some of which were breathing and moving. Cross testified that Gosnell briefly tried to kill some infants before birth using an injection of digoxin, however he was unable to produce the desired result. After babies continued to be born alive, he allegedly gave up trying and returned to using scissors after birth.
The grand jury report indicates that “snipping” the necks of babies after birth was Gosnell’s routine abortion procedure. The reason only 7 counts of murder were filed against Gosnell is because his clinic destroyed records in what testimony suggests were hundreds of similar cases.
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