Philly abortion doc may face death sentence (413 hits)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- .Prosecutors notified a Philadelphia doctor charged with killing a patient and seven babies at his abortion clinic that they intend to pursue the death penalty against him.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 70, ran a filthy West Philadelphia medical practice that served as a pill mill by day and an abortion mill by night, a grand jury concluded in January after a two-year investigation.
The multiple deaths and tender age of the babies -- allegedly killed with scissors after being born alive -- are the aggravating circumstances that warrant the death penalty for Gosnell, Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said Wednesday.
Defense lawyers have suggested that Gosnell, his wife and eight other defendants who worked at the neighborhood clinic treated poor women and minorities when no one else would.
Gosnell's lawyer said his client would die of old age before a death sentence would ever be carried out.
"Dr. Gosnell is never going to get the death penalty," lawyer Jack McMahon said after a brief court hearing. "You have a 70-year-old man, and it makes the case three times as long and as costly." ...
