May 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The jury in the Gosnell trial has today entered its eighth day of deliberations, and to all appearances is continuing to take a slow and methodical approach to considering each of the charges Gosnell faces.
Over the past eight days, the jury has sent out numerous requests for clarifications regarding the law and questions about the testimony that was given in court. Yesterday the jury requested a reading of testimony from Gosnell employee Lynda Williams, which took several hours.
This morning the jury has sent out another request to review the testimony of former Gosnell employee Adrienne Moton. That reading is also expected to take several hours.
Former medical assistant Moton, who herself pleaded guilty to third degree murder charges in October last year, reportedly sobbed her way through her testimony in court last month.
She recounted how she took a photograph with her cellphone of one baby she admitted killing, called “Baby A.” That photo was displayed on a large screen in the courtroom. (The photo can be seen on page 102 of the grand jury report.)
Moton said that the baby, which she estimated to be 30 weeks gestation, was pink, and that she thought that he could have survived.
According to the grand jury report that was released in July 2011, Gosnell charged $2,500 for the “abortion,” after discovering that the baby was further along than he originally thought.
The grand jury report includes the account of another of Gosnell’s employees, Kareema Cross, describing the moment of Baby A’s birth:
After the baby was expelled, Cross noticed that he was breathing, though not for long. After about 10 to 20 seconds, while the mother was asleep, “the doctor just slit the neck,” said Cross. Gosnell put the boy’s body in a shoebox. Cross described the baby as so big that his feet and arms hung out over the sides of the container. Cross said that she saw the baby move after his neck was cut, and after the doctor placed it in the shoebox. Gosnell told her, “it’s the baby’s reflexes. It’s not really moving.”
A neonatologist who testified on behalf of the grand jury said that Gosnell’s explanation for the baby’s movements was false, and that in all likelihood Gosnell failed immediately to kill the baby, and that his “few moments of life were spent in excruciating pain.”
The neonatologist also estimated the baby’s age as around 32 weeks gestation.
Moton also testified in court that Gosnell joked about the size of Baby A, saying that he thought the baby was big enough to get up and walk to the bus stop.
The mother of Baby A was subsequently admitted to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a severe infection and blood clots that had travelled to her lungs. According to her aunt, she nearly died, and took months to recover.
Investigators say that she was but one of numerous Gosnell’s clients who were injured during “abortions.”
Moton also recounted how in another case she slit the neck of a baby, known as Baby D, that was born alive in a toilet. That baby was estimated at 24.5 weeks gestation, the threshold for viability.
Kareema Cross, who was also present during the death of Baby D, described the baby as making “swimming” motions, as if it were trying to get out of the toilet.
Moton, like many of those who assisted Gosnell at his facility, had no medical training. She was paid around $10 an hour, under the table, to perform tasks normally reserved for highly trained professionals.
She herself underwent two abortions at the hands of Gosnell.