Gosnell Trial: Prosecution Expects to Rest its Case Thursday

As court proceedings in the trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell ended for the day on Wednesday, prosecutor Ed Cameron announced the commonwealth expects to rest its case by close of business tomorrow. [READ: “Inside the Trial of Abortion Doctor Kermit Gosnell“] The statement provoked smiles of relief from jurors who have endured five weeks of incredibly graphic testimony.

The day closed with long questioning of witness Latosha Lewis, a longtime employee of Gosnell’s who pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in connection with the investigation of Gosnell’s clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. Gosnell is alleged to have instructed unlicensed staff to routinely dispense medication. Cameron led Lewis through a tedious examination of almost two dozen files that law enforcement retrieved from the clinic, each of which listed the gestational age of the baby at 24 or even 24.5 weeks. In Pennsylvania, abortion becomes illegal when the fetus reaches 24 weeks.

In one case, Gosnell even revised the prospective gestational age upward, after an ultrasound, from 19 weeks—based on the woman’s last menstrual cycle—to 24 weeks. Yet he still allegedly performed the abortion. Legally, that’s a violation of state law but not a homicide. The records, however, call into question what Gosnell was thinking by essentially documenting what appear to be his own violations of state law.