Update 4:15 p.m.

(Reuters) – A Philadelphia abortion doctor was found guilty on Monday of murdering three babies during late-term abortions at a clinic serving low-income women.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, who ran the now-shuttered Women’s Medical Society Clinic, faces the possibility of the death penalty in the case that focused on whether the infants were born alive and then killed.

He was accused of delivering live babies during late-term abortions and then deliberately severing their spinal cords.

The case focused a spotlight on the controversial practice of late-term abortions and drew national attention after anti-abortion advocates complained that it was being ignored because of media bias in favor of abortion rights.

The jury heard five weeks of testimony in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia and deliberated for 10 days.

Gosnell also was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the case of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, who died from a drug overdose after going to him for an abortion.

He also was found guilty of performing 21 abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy at his clinic, which served mostly low-income women in a largely black community. It is legal in Pennsylvania to abort a fetus only up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.

The jury earlier in the day said it was deadlocked on two counts, without specifying which ones. But Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Minehart ordered the seven-woman, five-man panel back to resume deliberations.

Gosnell’s defense had claimed there was no evidence the babies were alive after they were aborted.

But according to witness testimony, the babies were born breathing, moving and making sounds.

Testimony also depicted a filthy clinic.

He has been in jail since his arrest in January 2011.

Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are awaiting sentencing. They include Gosnell’s wife, Pearl, a cosmetologist who helped perform abortions.

Original:

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor who ran the now-closed Women’s Medical Society Clinic, has been found guilty on three counts of first-degree murder, according to reports.

He was found not guilty of capital murder for one of the abortions.

He was also found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of an adult patient.

A Philadelphia jury was in deliberation since April 30. Earlier today, jury members were hung on two counts in the trial.

He has been in jail since his arrest in January 2011.

Gosnell faces the death penalty.

More to come.

Follow @metrophilly for the latest in this case. Or, follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/MetroPhilly

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An Arizona jury found Jodi Arias guilty on Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of her ex-boyfriend in a sensational capital case that has snared media attention since January. Arias teared up as the verdict was announced. Family members of victim Travis Alexander embraced each other in the courtroom.

Arias, 32, could face the death penalty now that she is convicted of murdering 30-year-old Alexander, whose body was found in the shower of his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. He had been shot in the face, stabbed multiple times and his throat had been slashed.

Arias has admitted to killing Alexander, but said it was in self-defense after he attacked her because she had dropped his camera while taking photos of him in the shower.

The jury reached its verdict on the third full day of deliberations. Judge Sherry Stephens, who gave them the case on Friday afternoon, had instructed jurors that they could consider the charges of first- and second-degree murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter, and that they should reach a unanimous verdict. First-degree murder requires proof of premeditation.

The trial, which began in early January and was punctuated by graphic testimony and evidence including a sex tape, was streamed live on the Internet and drew widespread media attention.

During the trial, the court heard how the petite, dark-haired Arias met and began dating Alexander, a businessman and motivational speaker, in 2006.

During 18 days of often gripping and salacious testimony, Arias said that she and Alexander continued to have sex despite their break-up from a relationship that was marked by emotional and physical abuse.

Arias said Alexander had made her feel “like a prostitute” and that he kicked and attempted to choke her, although she admitted never reporting the alleged abuse to the police, seeking medical treatment or documenting it in her journal.

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said Arias had snapped in the “sudden heat of passion” in the moments between a final photograph she took showing Alexander alive and taking a shower and a subsequent picture showing him covered in his own blood.

ARIAS PORTRAYED AS MANIPULATIVE

Prosecutor Juan Martinez painted a different picture of Arias, portraying her as manipulative and prone to jealousy in previous relationships, and said she had meticulously planned to kill Alexander.

“Nothing indicates that this is anything less than a slaughter,” he told jurors in his summing up on Friday, asking them to return a verdict of felony first-degree murder.

Martinez accused Arias of bringing the pistol used in the killing, which has not been recovered, with her from California, and said she rented a car, removed its license plate and bought gasoline cans and fuel to conceal her journey to the Phoenix suburbs to kill Alexander.

Martinez said that Arias lied after the killing to deflect any suspicion that she had been involved in his death, leaving a voicemail on Alexander’s cellphone, sending irises to his grandmother and telling detectives she was not at the crime scene before changing her story.

The jury had more than 100 questions for Arias. They grilled her on her claims that her mind went blank after she shot Alexander, and wanted to know why she had not called emergency responders – questions she struggled to answer.

The defense called a psychologist who testified that Arias’ memory lapses stemmed from post-traumatic stress as a result of Alexander’s alleged abuse and the killing itself – claims disputed by prosecutors.

In closing arguments, Martinez told the jury Alexander had sent an instant message weeks before his death saying he was “extremely afraid” of Arias because of her “stalking behavior.”

Nurmi also reminded the jury that Arias was charged with murder and not with lying.

“Did she lie? Of course she did, but that’s not in your verdict instructions,” he said.

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A former New York City police officer plotted to kidnap, kill and cook women, a jury decided Tuesday.

After 16 hours of deliberation, a jury reached the verdict that Gilberto Valle, 28, was guilty on all charges.

Prosecutors charged that Valle plotted to kidnap women, keeping files on more than 100, and conspired to eventually kill and cook them.

His defense lawyer portrayed his actions as harmless sexual fantasies, telling jurors he should not be convicted for his thoughts.

Evidence included online communications in which prosecutors said he plotted to cook women, judging whether his oven could fit one if he folded her legs. He also agreed to a payment of $5,000 to deliver a woman bound, gagged and alive, prosecutors said.

His wife, who was among his planned victims, prosecutors said, testified against him at trial. He cried during her testimony.

Valle, a Forest Hills resident who had patrolled in Harlem, faces life in prison.

Former Brooklyn prosecutor and attorney Michael Weinstock said the “game changer” in the case was Valle illegally using a crime database to find information on potential victims, which was itself a crime and showed taking an action past chats.

“He’s not just going onto a website with weirdos and talking about killing his wife,” Weinstock said. “That would be weird, and that would be disturbing, but that alone would not have gotten the guy convicted.”

In his opinion, he continued, “If he had simply said twisted things with other peculiar nerds online, it never would have been prosecuted, but once he opened the database, it was a game changer.”

But he said he did not think this case would set a precedent for others involving conspiracy to commit crimes, simply because prosecutors do not have the resources to patrol every sexual fantasy.

“They’ve got their hands full,” he said.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement that the case showed that the web cannot be used for planning crimes.

“Today, a unanimous jury found that Gilberto Valle’s detailed and specific plans to abduct women for the purpose of committing grotesque crimes were very real and that he was guilty as charged,” Bharara said. “The internet is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, but it does not confer immunity for plotting crimes and taking steps to carry out those crimes.”

Prosecutors’ allegations

Planned to abduct and cook 100 women
Negotiated price of $5,000 to deliver a woman bound, gagged and alive
Used the National Crime Information Center to find potential victims
Kept files including a document entitled, “Abducting and Cooking [Victim-1]: a Blueprint,” with name, birthday, height, weight and bra size

Excerpts from the alleged planning

“[My oven] is big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs.”

“I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus … cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.”

“I love that she is asleep right now not having the slightest clue of what we have planned. Her days are numbered.”

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Michael Velez, the alleged getaway car driver in the robbery that led to the fatal shooting of NYPD officer Peter Figoski, was acquitted of all charges on Wednesday.

Velez, 22, was found not guilty of burglary and murder in the death of Figoski on the night of Dec. 12, 2011. Velez and four others were plotting to rob a drug dealer in a Brooklyn basement apartment, but were interrupted by police.

Velez had claimed that he was not aware that the other men were planning a robbery, the NY Post reported.

Lamont Pride, the man accused of shooting Figoski, was found not guilty on Monday of intentionally murdering a police officer, but was found guilty of second-degree murder, burglary and aggravated manslaughter. He faces 25 years in prison.

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