PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The wife of a Philadelphia abortion doctor charged with murder has admitted helping her husband perform illegal late-term procedures.
Pearl Gosnell's plea agreement does not require her to testify against her husband, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Six former employees have entered guilty pleas and agreed to testify.
Gosnell, 70, his wife, 50, and eight employees of his Women's Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia were arrested in January. A grand jury report described the clinic as a "charnel house" where late procedures were performed in squalid conditions.
During a hearing Tuesday, a judge warned Pearl Gosnell she could receive a sentence of as long as 54 years. But Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner said the sentence is likely to be much shorter.
Gosnell, who could face the death penalty if he is convicted, is charged with the murder of a Virginia woman who died during an abortion and of infants who were delivered during procedures and then killed.
The trial is scheduled to begin in March 2013.
