Jury hung on two counts in Philadelphia abortion trial

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who catered to minorities, immigrants and poor women at the Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia, initially was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive, but a jury was hung today on reaching a verdict.

PHILADELPHIA —  A Philadelphia doctor accused of performing illegal, late-term abortions in a filthy clinic has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive but acquitted in the death of a fourth baby.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a patient.

Prosecutors say the 72-year-old Gosnell delivered babies alive and had their spines severed with scissors to kill them. They say the baby whose death he was cleared in let out a soft whimper before Gosnell cut its neck.

The defense had argued there were no live births at the clinic.

The grisly details of the case came out more than two years ago when authorities described finding bags and bottles of fetuses at the foul-smelling clinic and unsterile instruments that were reused.

Prosecutors seek the death penalty.