FIRST READ:
Regulate guns and bombs possession but do nothing about abortion: Kermit Gosnell’s Abortion saga and Obama’s hypocritical silence: Gosnell kept the remains of 47 aborted babies in cat food containers, milk jugs: medical examiner
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/04/regulate-guns-and-bombs-possession-but.htmlPhiladelphia DA calls abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell a 'monster' after he's sentenced to life in prison without parole
Published May 15, 2013
FoxNews.com
PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia
abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an
aborted baby that he described as so big it could "walk to the bus."Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted this week of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive, then stabbed with scissors. He was given two life sentences Tuesday in a deal with prosecutors that spared him a potential death sentence, and the third sentence was handed down Wednesday.
"Any doctor who cuts into
the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would
survive with proper medical attention, is a murderer and a monster."
-
Philadelphia District
Attorney Seth Williams
"I will not mince words, Kermit Gosnell is a monster. Any doctor who cuts into the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would survive with proper medical attention, is a murderer and a monster."
Gosnell was also sentenced to 2 1/2 to five years in prison for the 2009 overdose death of a patient. The sentences are consecutive, meaning Gosnell, 72, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The case has made Gosnell a flashpoint in the nation's bitter debate over legalized abortion.
Prosecutors argued that Gosnell savagely killed late-term babies born alive by severing their spines, and taught several staff members the technique. Nine former clinic workers were convicted in the case, and four others pleaded guilty to murder.
Despite the notoriety of the case, Gosnell has seemed oddly serene in court during the two-month trial, and apparently sees himself as a medical pioneer and tireless advocate for inner-city patients.
"I wanted to be an effective, positive force in the minority community," Gosnell told The Philadelphia Daily News in a 2010 interview, when he predicted he would be "vindicated" of the allegations in a harrowing grand jury report. He chose not to address the judge during Wednesday's sentencing.
But prosecutors said he grew increasingly reckless as he accumulated millions of dollars from his rogue clinic, which was described as a "pill mill" for addicts by day and an "abortion mill" by night.
The jury spent 10 days deliberating before finding that Gosnell had killed babies or had them killed. And the jury found him complicit in the death of the 41-year-old patient, a Virginia woman who was repeatedly sedated by his untrained medical assistants.
Gosnell was also convicted of hundreds of abortion law violations for performing illegal, third-term abortions or failing to counsel women and teens. Gosnell was acquitted in the deaths of four other infants.
Prosecutors have declined to comment on the verdict, citing a gag order that was expected to be lifted Wednesday when Gosnell's sentence is finalized.
Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person and his victims were especially vulnerable given their age. But Gosnell's own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be executed before his appeals ran out.
Gosnell's lawyer, Jack McMahon, said his client accepts the verdict and isn't sorry he went to trial. He said Gosnell gave up a somewhat better deal early on but wanted to air the issues in court and is satisfied that he did so.
"He wanted this case aired out in a courtroom and it got aired out in a courtroom in a fair way. And now he's accepting what will happen. He's an intelligent guy," said McMahon, who said Gosnell would now plead to federal drug charges that are still pending.
The sentencing deal, reached after hours of terse negotiations Tuesday, spares Gosnell's family the task of pleading for his life in court, McMahon said. Gosnell has six children, the youngest of them a teenager born to his third wife, who has also pleaded guilty in the case.
"He's a proud man. To bring his young family into court was something he did not want to do," McMahon said.
A 2011 grand jury investigation into Gosnell's alleged prescription drug trafficking led to the gruesome findings about his abortion clinic. During an FBI raid, authorities found 47 aborted fetuses stored in clinic freezers, jars of tiny severed feet, bloodstained furniture and dirty medical instruments, along with cats roaming the premises.
Prosecution experts said the Delaware teen carrying Baby A, whose death Gosnell was sentenced in Wednesday, was nearly 30 weeks pregnant when Gosnell aborted her fetus. 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.
A fourth baby 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.
McMahon has argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Former Abortion Assistants Tell All: He Would ‘Twist the Head Off the Neck With His Bare Hands’
May 15, 2013
Life Dynamics in Denton states that it has not named the abortionist so as not to interfere with a criminal investigation, but desired for the stories of the former employees to be told to demonstrate that Gosnell is not the exception in the abortion industry.
“[M]ost of the time, the fetus would come completely out before he would either cut the spinal cord or he introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot of the fetus in order to kill the fetus,” outlined former assistant Deborah Edge as she explained that many late-term abortions were conducted at the facility where she worked. “I thought, well, it’s an abortion. It’s what he does. I didn’t know it was illegal.”
Edge spoke of how she often saw the babies moving before the abortionist took their life.
“Of course, you could see the stomach breathing, and that’s when he would snip the spine,” she said. “And of course the soft spot was one of the spots where he would take one of the forceps or the dilators and stick it down the soft spot of the fetus’ head.”
“Either that, or [he would] twist the head off the neck with his own bare hands,” Edge recalled.
Co-worker Krystal Rodriguez then chimed in to describe the horrors that she personally witnessed at the facility.
“Sometimes he would force it through the stomach as well,” she said, “and twist it.”
“Sometimes he couldn’t get the fetus out. He would yank pieces, piece by piece,” Edge stated. “I’m talking about the whole floor dirty. I’m talking about me drenched in blood.”
Rodriguez nodded.
The women also shared a story that they had heard from another employee who saw a baby survive an abortion.
“[The baby] opened up his eyes and grabbed [the abortionist's] hand — his finger,” Rodriguez stated.
Edge said that she would see breach babies startled when they were stabbed by one of the abortionist’s instruments, as their toes wiggled in a relaxed manner at birth, and then spread out once struck with the object.
“People say that they don’t feel,” she outlined. “Well, if they don’t feel, why would their toes [spread out]?”
“I would kind of just turn around until he was finished,” Edge stated of the procedure, who wiped a tear at one point during the interview.
The women agreed that the size of the babies being thrown in the trash was often shocking.
“A lot of times, we would bring the [bag of] big fetuses that were over age and we would reopen the bag and just look at it,” Edge remembered. “We would be amazed at how big it was.”
“We used to look at each other and sometimes our tears would come with the other assistants because we would say to ourselves, ‘Why?’” she continued. “We would always think, ‘He’s so greedy.’”
“The women that go there have no idea what they’re getting into,” Edge declared.
The interview was conducted with Life Dynamics founder Mark Crutcher on May 3rd.
“During Gosnell’s trial, it became clear that organizations like Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and others within the pro-choice community were fully aware of what Gosnell was doing — but they kept quiet because this was a rock they did not want the public looking under,” Crutcher said following the release of the footage. “What they knew, and wanted to keep hidden, was that everything being done at this abortion clinic was within the standard operating procedures for every other abortion clinic in the country.”
The abortion facility at issue remains in operation as of press time.
‘House of Horrors’ Abortionist Kermit Gosnell to Get Life, Evades Death Penalty
http://christiannews.net/2013/05/14/house-of-horrors-abortionist-kermit-gosnell-to-get-life-evades-death-penalty/
May 14, 2013
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – In an effort to hold on to his own life after being convicted of taking the lives of three newborn babies, abortionist Kermit Gosnell agreed to forego an appeal on Tuesday in order to avoid the death penalty.
Prosecutors agreed to sentence him to two consecutive life sentences without parole today after he gave up his right to appeal. They originally sought the death penalty for Gosnell due to the number of murders involved in the case and the age of the babies that died at his hand.
While he has already been sentenced to life behind bars, jurors will deliberate the sentences for the remaining charges on Thursday.
As previously reported, Gosnell was found guilty on Monday of the majority of the charges against him, including three counts of first degree murder in the deaths of newborn babies, and one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman that died while obtaining an abortion at his “House of Horrors.”
The jury announced its verdict shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, as the seven women and five men came to a consensus after 10 days of deliberation, the majority of whom professed to be pro-abortion. The verdict was read aloud for all counts before being made public.
Gosnell was found not guilty in the death of one baby, who was allegedly heard screeching before his or her death. Nine other counts, including the murder of three other newborn babies, had been dropped by Judge Jeffrey Minehart last month.
The abortionist faced 263 charges in all, including racketeering and performing illegal late-term abortions. He was found guilty of many of these charges, including operating a “corrupt organization” and conspiracy, as well as one count of infanticide. All charges involving the deaths of babies centered solely on those believed to have been murdered after birth, as opposed to an in utero abortion.
As previously reported, Gosnell, 72, was taken into custody in 2011 following an investigation into his practice called the Women’s Medical Society. Investigators had not initially been aware that Gosnell was running a late-term abortion facility, but visited the location over suspicions about the illegal sale of controlled substances.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who initially leveled the charges against the abortionist, described Gosnell’s operation two years ago as a “House of Horrors.”
“[Investigators] found jar after jar after jar of fetal remains and specifically severed feet in jars,” he explained in front of a panel following the compilation of the Grand Jury Report. “They found medical waste bags just strewn everywhere.”
Williams also outlined that several babies had been found with their spinal cords severed. It was believed that Gosnell birthed a number of babies alive, then “snipped” the back of their neck with scissors in order to kill them.
He was initially charged with seven counts of first-degree murder — the most severe charge, which signifies that the acts were premeditated — for the deaths of babies who were believed to have died in this manner, and one count of third-degree murder for the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, an abortion client who died after she was administered a lethal amount of medication. Numerous other charges were leveled against the abortionist as well, including operating a corrupt organization.
During his seven-week trial, a number of Gosnell’s employees testified against the abortionist, outlining how they had witnessed Gosnell ending the lives of newborn babies by “snipping” their necks with scissors. Abortion worker Kareema Cross told the jury during her turn at the stand that Gosnell took one of the late-term babies that was born alive and placed him in a container the size of a shoe box. As he was carrying the box to the table, the baby “pulled in its arms” and then also pulled in its legs “to fit itself into the box.”
“The doctor then cut the back of the baby’s neck,” Cross said, adding that Gosnell joked that the baby could have “walked to the store and the bus stop.”
Days prior, Gosnell employee Sherry West said that she couldn’t bring herself to kill a tiny newborn that was crying before it died.
“There was this clear glass pan, and I saw it and I thought, ‘What do you expect me to do?’” West told the court.
“It didn’t have eyes or a mouth, but it was screeching, making this noise,” she recalled. “It really freaked me out and I said, ‘Call Dr. Gosnell,’ and I went back out front.”
Similarly, Stephen Massof as well that it would “rain fetuses” on some days at the facility, and that he witnessed Gosnell snip the spinal cords of at least 100 newborn babies.
“It was literally a beheading,” Massof stated as he described the “snipping” technique. “It is separating the brain from the body.”
Adrienne Moton, an assistant to Gosnell, also told the court that babies who were born alive had their spines “snipped” with scissors.
“I learned it from Dr. Gosnell,” she stated when asked by prosecutor Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron where she came up with the idea. “I never asked why.”
“Can you say how many you did?” Cameron inquired.
“I could remember a good 10 times that I did it,” Moton replied, obviously nervous.
All of Gosnell’s employees, including his wife, have been incarcerated either as a result of their participation in ending the lives of children born at the facility or surrounding their involvement in the illegal dispensing of drugs and the death of Karnamaya Mongar.
