Gosnell Murder Trial Jury Wants More Info on Babies He Killed

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 3, 2013   |   12:06PM   |   Philadelphia, PA

Today, jury in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial asked the first questions of the judge, seeking additional information about the hundreds of charges Gosnell faces and wanting more information on each of the babies in the four first-degree murder charges.

The jury previously has spent three days focused on a Gosnell staffer who is a co-defendant in the trial.

As local Philadelphia reporter J.D. Mullane reports:

 

From the Grand Jury Report, here are details about each of those four babies:

“Baby Boy A”

One case was particularly memorable. Kareema Cross and Ashley Baldwin testified about a baby who we will call “Baby Boy A,” born in July 2008. According to an ultrasound, the 17-year old mother was 29.4 weeks pregnant. Gosnell induced labor and sedated the mother, who delivered a baby boy. Cross saw Baby Boy A breathe and move. Gosnell dismissed Cross’s observations, telling her, “it’s the baby’s reflexes. It’s not really moving.” Cross told us that the baby was 18 to 19 inches long and nearly the size of her own newborn daughter, who was six pounds, six ounces at birth. Even Gosnell commented on Baby Boy A’s size, joking “this baby is big enough to walk around with me or walk me to the bus stop.” Cross testified that she saw “the doctor just slit the neck” and place the remains in a clear plastic shoebox for disposal.

Employees Adrienne Moton and Ashley Baldwin also were present. All three workers were so startled by Baby Boy A’s size that they each took a photograph. Cross explained,

Q. Why did you all take a photograph of this baby?
A. Because it was big and it was wrong and we knew it. We knew something was wrong.
***
I’m not sure who took the picture first, but when we seen this baby, it was – it was a shock to us because I never seen a baby that big that he had done. So it was – I knew something was wrong because everything, like you can see everything, the hair, eyes, everything. And I never seen for any other procedure that he did, I never seen any like that.

FBI Agent Huff testified that Adrienne Moton gave him consent to search her cell phone for the photograph that she took. The FBI lab was able to find the picture on cell phone; we saw this photograph, introduced as Exhibit 57. Moton told Agent Huff that she took this picture because Baby Boy A was born alive.

A neonatologist viewed Exhibit 57, the photograph of Baby Boy A. Based on his size, hairline, muscle mass, subcutaneous tissue, well-developed scrotum, and other characteristics, the neonatologist opined that the gestational age was at least 32 weeks. The Grand Jury was able to identify this baby because Kareema Cross remembered the 17-year-old mother, who came in with her great-aunt, who testified before the Grand Jury. We recommend that Kermit Gosnell be charged with murder for killing Baby Boy A in July, 2008.

“Baby C”

We also recommend murder and conspiracy charges against Kermit Gosnell and Lynda Williams for the murder committed by Lynda Williams in 2006 or 2007 of a baby who we will call “Baby C.” Kareema Cross testified that she saw Williams cut the neck of Baby C, who had been moving and breathing for approximately 20 minutes. Gosnell had delivered the baby and put it on a counter while he suctioned the placenta from the mother. Williams called Cross over to look at the baby because it was breathing and moving its arms when Williams pulled on them. After touching the baby, Williams slit its neck.

When asked why Williams had killed the baby, Cross answered:

Because the baby, I guess, because the baby was moving and breathing. And she see Dr. Gosnell do it so many times, I guess she felt, you know, she can do it. It’s okay.

The neonatology expert testified that babies born at less than 25 weeks often need help breathing, but older babies can breathe on their own for a period of time. A bigger baby, over 25 weeks, may have developed sufficient muscle tone to pull back if its arm is pulled.

The evidence of an intentional killing and an implicit agreement to kill a newborn supports charges of murder and criminal conspiracy against Lynda Williams and Kermit Gosnell for killing Baby C.

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“Baby D”

There is sufficient evidence to support murder and conspiracy charges against Adrienne Moton and Kermit Gosnell. Moton killed a baby by cutting its spinal cord. Kareema Cross testified that a woman had delivered a large baby, whom we will call “Baby D,” into a toilet before Gosnell arrived at work for the night. Cross said that the baby was moving and looked like it was swimming. Moton reached into the toilet, got the baby out, and cut its neck. Cross said the baby was between 10 and 15 inches long and had a head the size of a “big pancake.” Cross could not pinpoint the year that this happened, but testified that this killing occurred while Steven Massof was still working at the clinic. (Massof left in July 2008.)

Moton herself admitted to FBI Agent Huff that she had cut the spinal cords of living babies. According to her statement, Gosnell trained and instructed her to do this. The charts that the neonatology expert provided us indicate that the size of Baby D was consistent with viability.

This evidence of an intentional killing by Moton and an implicit agreement with Gosnell to kill babies as he instructed supports charges of murder and criminal conspiracy against Adrienne Moton and Kermit Gosnell for killing Baby D. We also recommend that Kermit Gosnell be charged with Criminal Solicitation of Adrienne Moton.

“Baby E”

A fifth murder charge should be filed against Kermit Gosnell for the murder of a baby that Ashley Baldwin heard crying. We will refer to this victim as “Baby E.” Ashley Baldwin testified that she heard a baby crying in the large procedure room (the one used for later-term abortions) and saw it moving. She said Lynda Williams summoned Dr. Gosnell, who then went into the procedure room where the baby was. Ashley testified that Dr. Gosnell was the only person in the room with the baby, that he came out of the room and put the baby in the waste bin, and that she saw an incision. Kareema Cross testified that Ashley had called her over because she had heard the baby crying; Cross said that she heard this baby “whine” while Dr. Gosnell was alone in the procedure room with the baby.

Based on the testimony of the neonatology expert, we believe this baby must have been at least 23 weeks of age and, because it cried more than once, probably older. This baby was born alive, and consistent with the medical guidelines and standards cited by the neonatology expert should have been resuscitated. Instead, it was killed. We recommend a murder charge against Kermit Gosnell for killing “Baby E.”