Abortion Doctor Kermit Gosnell Guilty of First-Degree Murder

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Just a few hours after the jury announced a deadlock on two of the charges in a murder trial that's gained as much notoriety for its sickening crimes as its controversial (lack of) coverage (and news), the court has announced that the jury has reached a verdict on all 260+ counts against Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. The jury found Gosnell guilty on three of the four counts of first-degree murder, for killing babies that had been born alive in his clinic after induced labor. He was found not guilty on the fourth charge, but was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 41-year-old woman who died of lethal drug overdose while undergoing an abortion. 

Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer reporter JD Mullane, who has been covering the trial from inside the courthouse, was the first to report the news.

Tara Murtha of Philadelphia Weekly also reported that Gosnell was found not guilty of murder of the fourth baby. Each of the first-degree murder charges could earn him the death penalty.

Gosnell is accused of numerous crimes arising from his abortion practice, including five counts of murder—four for babies that he allegedly killed after they were born alive, and one for the death of one of his adult patients. (Three other murder charges were dropped during the trial, though there were accusations of many, many more illegal abortions.) He was also accused of performing numerous late-term abortions, carried out long after they are legally allowed and sometimes on underage patients. There were also many charges for offenses related to abuse and mismanagement of prescription drugs and violations of state health codes, including using unlicensed office assistants and allowing untrained workers to administer anesthesia and other medicines.