|
|
|
|
Abortionist
Gosnell to be Arraigned March 2 Part Two of Four By Dave Andrusko On Wednesday Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes set March 2 as the date to arraign abortionist Kermit Gosnell and several of his employees, rejecting their attorneys' request for a preliminary evidence hearing. Gosnell, 69, is expected to enter a formal plea then. Gosnell is charged with eight counts of murder: one woman, who died of an overdose of drugs, and seven babies born alive whom Gosnell allegedly murdered by severing their spinal cords with scissors. Earlier this week Judge Hughes refused Gosnell's request for a city-funded public defender. The Philadelphia Grand Jury which investigated Gosnell concluded that he made at least 1.8 million annually, just on abortions. (And "That figure does not account for any of the money he took in from allegedly selling illegal prescriptions to drug addicts in his community, including his notable distinction of being one of the top three prescribers of OxyContin in Pennsylvania, something federal authorities continue to investigate," according to the Philadelphia Daily News's Stephanie Farr.) Yesterday we learned that he will be represented by a high-profile attorney, former Philadelphia city prosecutor Jack McMahon. A McMahon associate will represent Gosnell's wife. "The 10 defendants face a Byzantine assortment of charges ranging from murder to conspiracy, plus charges associated with the illegal prescription pill-mill portion of the case," writes Philadelphia Weekly's Tara Murtha. Wednesday hearing centered around the 26l-page Grand Jury report-- "the result of eight months of investigation that included interviewing 63 witnesses--and whether that "was sufficient to bypass a preliminary hearing and instead go straight to trial," Murtha writes. The prosecution argued that "the Grand Jury report is a reasonable substitute to a preliminary hearing." McMahon vigorously disagreed, but Judge Hughes agreed with prosecutors. According to Murtha, Hughes responded that they misunderstood the purpose of the preliminary hearing. Judge Hughes "said that the point of a preliminary hearing was to access if the defendants are 'possibly guilty of the crime,' and ultimately decided that the work already put into the Grand Jury report, released Jan. 19, satisfies that requirement." Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |