Judge Removes Lawyer of Abortion Doc's Wife

A judge has removed a lawyer defending the wife of a Philadelphia abortion doctor in a high-profile murder and conspiracy case, though the client wanted to keep her.

Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner said Friday that Mary Maran can't represent Pearl Gosnell because a lawyer in her firm represents Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The doctor is charged with killing a patient and seven viable babies.

Pearl Gosnell is charged with helping perform illegal late-term abortions. She cried in court after hearing she must get a new lawyer.

The judge says Maran violated an order to build a firewall in the husband-and-wife defense when she visited the doctor in prison.

Maran says they only discussed the couple's tangled finances with respect to her legal fees.

Pearl Gosnell was trying to get her $1 million bail reduced in the Friday hearing, but the judge put the issue off until March 30 when all 10 defendant’s in the Gosnell case will have a pretrial hearing.

Kermit Gosnell, 70, allegedly performed late-term abortions in which he induced labor and then cut the spinal cords of the live babies born with surgical scissors.

Both Gosnells remain jailed.