Defense lawyers for a doctor accused of killing four babies in a Philadelphia abortion clinic by snipping their spines have rested their case without calling a single witness.
The high-profile murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, has been underway for almost six weeks, during which time the jury has heard from a plethora of former employees who have shared startling stories of the practices they allegedly witnessed.
He is charged with killing four infants during botched abortions as well as a 41-year-old woman who died of an overdose after the procedure at his Women's Medical Society clinic in urban West Philadelphia.
He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors said Gosnell ran a clinic where women went for late-term abortions.
Gosnell's defense lawyer, John McMahon, characterized the prosecution of his client, who is black, as 'elitist, racist'
He added that there is no evidence that the babies were delivered alive, noting 'the first rule of homicide is someone has to be alive'.
Earlier this week, three of eight murder charges were thrown out, apparently because the judge had not heard sufficient evidence that the three babies were viable, born alive and then killed.
The defense questioned testimony from staffers who said they had seen babies move, cry or breathe. McMahon argued that each testified to seeing only a single movement or breath.
Tragic: He faces a murder charge in the overdose death of Karnamaya Mongar, left, who died in 2009
Scene: A police car is seen outside the the Women's Medical Society in 2011 following Gosnell's arrest
'These are not the movements of a live child,' McMahon said. 'There is not one piece - not one - of objective, scientific evidence that anyone was born alive.'
The jury will also ponder third-degree murder charges against Gosnell for the 2009 overdose death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died after an abortion at his Women's Medical Society.
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Former staffers have testified that patients received heavy sedatives and painkillers from untrained workers while Gosnell was offsite, and were then left in waiting rooms for hours, often unattended.
Despite that, the workers testified that they had never seen a woman go into distress before Mongar.
Yet a 2011 grand jury report alleges that dozens of women were injured at Gosnell's clinic over the past 30 years, calling it a ‘house of horrors.’
House of horror: A grand jury photograph shows what police say are plastic bags hiding body parts in a refrigerator inside the Philadelphia practice
Operating table: Women were often given such high doses of drugs that they gave birth in the toilet
Mess: The interior of the clinic, which an report noted smelled of cat urine and was splatted with blood
Some left with torn wombs or bowels, some with venereal disease contracted through the reuse of non-sterilized equipment, and some left with fetal remains still inside them, the report alleged.
And the report blamed Gosnell for an earlier maternal death that was not charged.
Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron, in defending the Mongar charge, said it stemmed from the totality of the circumstances at Gosnell's clinic.
They included the repeated medication dosages given by medical assistants; the doctor's absence during most of her two-day visit; and the hour it took to open a locked side door and take her by stretcher to an ambulance.
The prosecutor questioned why else Gosnell and his staff would 'snip' babies if they were not born alive. The brains were intact, so it was not done to make the delivery easier, he said.
'Why would you cut a baby in the back of the neck unless you were killing it?' Cameron argued.
The doctor: Kermit Gosnell
Charged: Pearl Gosnell
Employee: Elizabeth Hampton
Arrested: Tina Baldwin
Assistant: Lynda Williams
Worker: Adrine Moton
Accomplice: Eileen O'Neil
Mugshot: Sherry West
Held: Maddline Joe
Gosnell had also been charged with five counts of abuse of a corpse, for removing the feet from aborted fetuses and storing them in specimen jars. McMahon argued that his client did so to keep DNA samples, and Minehart agreed to dismiss those counts.
Minehart upheld charges that Gosnell violated Pennsylvania's abortion laws by performing abortions after 24 weeks and failing to counsel women 24 hours before the procedure.
Last week, a medical assistant told a jury that she saw one late-term baby who survived an abortion 'swimming' in a toilet 'trying to get out.'
Kareema Cross also claimed she saw the spines of at least 10 babies snipped using scissors during unorthodox late-term abortions at a West Philadelphia clinic.
Other employees at the clinic also confirmed that babies were often expelled from their mothers into the toilet. On at least one occasion the toilet had to be removed from the floor to 'get the fetuses out of the pipes.'
Charged: Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor, is accused of killing 4 babies allegedly born alive
Many pregnant women were given drugs to induce labor.
Cross, who worked at the clinic from 2005 to 2009, was so disturbed by its operation that she took photos and called authorities, although she gave a relative's name.
Employee Latosha Lewis said 'one or two babies fell out of patients each night. They dropped on lounge chairs, on the floor, and often in the toilet.'
The 2011 grand jury report blasts state and city officials for failing to inspect or shutter Gosnell's busy clinic in West Philadelphia.
The 300-page grand jury report, that initially laid out the charges against Gosnell, details the appalling conditions of the West Philadelphia clinic the doctor operated.
Clinic: When Mongar fell unconscious, staff took an hour to unlock a side door to get her out, pictured
Discarded: Bags stashed with body parts, pictured, were also found in the Philadelphia clinic
It was described as reeking of cat urine, with walls splattered with blood and patient rooms filled with unsanitary instruments and broken- down equipment.
The tiny fetuses and many of their bodyparts were piled high throughout Gosnell’s clinic in cabinets and freezers, in plastic bags, bottles, even cat-food containers.
Jars with severed feet lined shelves, prosecutors said. 'It was a baby charnel house,' the grand jury report said. Gosnell has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest. Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are awaiting sentencing.