Kermit Gosnell, Philadelphia abortion doc, gets life not death penalty

GlobalPost

Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor who for years performed late-term abortions inside a filthy clinic, agreed today to drop all appeals in exchange for a life sentence.

Prosecutors had pushed for the death penalty, CNN said.

A jury convicted the 72-year-old doctor Monday on three counts of murder for killing newborns by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.

He was also found guilty of murder in the death of a 41-year-old woman who died of an anesthetic overdose during an abortion.

Gosnell “agreed to waive all of his appellate rights in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty,” Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said, according to CNN.

There are still more details to emerge on the case Wednesday, when Gosnell will face conviction on a third newborn death and hundreds of other matters, the Associated Press reported.

A judge imposed a gag order until then.

Williams is expected to hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in Philadelphia to discuss the case.

Gosnell owned a West Philadelphia clinic called the Women’s Medical Society.

Police raided it in 2010 looking for illegal prescription drugs.

That led to hundreds of charges, including four murder cases.

NBC 10 Philadelphia said the jury was forced to deliberate for 10 days over 263 counts.

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.