The prosecution needs to prove its case against Kermit Gosnell beyond a reasonable doubt on each and every count.
Apparently it did not do that on some counts, particularly 1st Degree Murder as to three of the babies, so the Judge tossed the charges at the close of the prosecution’s case. The key issue seems to have been whether the prosecution proved the babies were born alive, as opposed to having been killed in the womb.
Several murder and other counts remain, so while this obviously is disheartening given the testimony we have heard about what went on in the clinic, the search for justice is not over.
Judge tosses three murder counts against Kermit Gosnell:
After hearing impassioned arguments from attorneys on both sides of the Kermit Gosnell capital-murder trial Tuesday, a Philadelphia judge threw out three of the seven first-degree murder charges Gosnell faced for allegedly killing fetuses born alive at his abortion clinic.Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart also tossed out all five counts against Gosnell accusing him of corpse abuse for storing the feet of aborted fetuses in plastic containers in his now closed Women’s Medical Society clinic.Also dismissed by Minehart was one count of infanticide – the intentional killing of an infant. All other counts against Gosnell, 72, will be decided by the jury, the judge ruled.In addition to counts of first-degree murder for killing four babies allegedly born alive, those charges include the third-degree murder of a patient who died of a drug overdose following a botched 2009 abortion and multiple counts of preforming illegal, late-term abortions….Gosnell’s attorney, Jack McMahon, argued that all seven counts regarding the fetuses should be dismissed. None were born alive, he said, all having been injected with death-causing drugs during the abortion process. Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron argued that there had been enough testimony from former clinic employees that the seven babies were born alive to let the jury decide.
Dropped Gosnell Charge Includes 28-Week Old “Baby Boy B” Found in Freezer:
The judge in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial dropped three charges against the abortion practitioner for killing babies in a gruesome abortion method that involved snipping their necks in infanticides.One of the three charges the judge dropped includes a 28-week unborn baby who was killed in an abortion-infanticide and eventually discovered in a freezer at Gosnell’s clinic.Last week, LifeNews featured a report on this aborted baby, who was the subject of testimony during the trial. Because the medical examiner could not confirm the baby was born alive and subsequently killed, the judge dropped the charge.
Here is a photo from the trial of Baby Boy B, for whom there will be no justice (via link above):
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