Gosnell’s defense attorney asked the judge to drop three of the charges for killing the babies and the judge agreed with the contention there was not enough evidence to convict Gosnell on those charges. He still faces the other charges the prosecution has brought and the murder trial will continue on them.

Common pleas court Judge Jeffrey Minehart also dropped five counts of corpse abuse at the request of his defense attorney Jack McMahon and did not explain his ruling dropping any of the charges,

The defense has argued that there were no live births at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Center abortion clinic and contends the babies died during abortions and their necks were snipped afterwards. But former Gosnell staffers testified they saw signs of life even after the abortion had been completed — saying the babies “jumped” and “screamed” and tried to escape.