Three murder charges dropped in Gosnell trial

After court proceedings were called off Monday, the trial of Kermit Gosnell resumed Tuesday with the dismissal of three of the eight murder charges against Gosnell.

Gosnell — who is alleged to have run a late-term abortion clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave., just blocks away from Penn’s campus — was charged with eight counts of murder, seven of which relate to the killing of babies after they were delivered.

On Tuesday morning, Gosnell’s attorney Jack McMahon filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal on behalf of his client to dismiss the charges.

McMahon argued that seven murder counts should be dismissed because none of the fetuses were born alive, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Prosecutor Edward Cameron countered that testimony from former clinic employees was sufficient to show that all seven babies were born alive.

Judge Jeffery P. Minehart dismissed five charges of abuse of corpse, one charge of infanticide and three murder charges against Gosnell. The judge gave no reason for his decision, The New York Times reported.

However, Gosnell still faces four out of the seven first-degree murder charges for babies he is alleged to have murdered. He also faces a charge of the third-degree murder of Karnamaya Mongar, a patient who died from a drug overdose.

Gosnell could receive the death penalty if he is convicted of any of the remaining first-degree murder charges.

Also on trial with Gosnell is one of his employees from the Women’s Medical Society — Eileen O’Neill. All eight other clinic employees that were charged in this case, including Gosnell’s wife Pearl, have already pleaded guilty to charges against them.

O’Neill, who is charged with counts of conspiracy, perjury and theft by deception, had six charges of theft by deception dismissed by Minehart upon a motion for acquittal filed by her attorney.

After the dismissal of charges against both Gosnell and O’Neill, the trial proceeded with testimony on behalf of O’Neill. Her attorney, James Berardinelli, rested O’Neill’s case after her mother’s testimony.

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