Black Madam Convicted of Murder, Obviously

In news that should come as a surprise to no one, Padge-Victoria Windslowe, who was on trial for the death of a British student when she injected silicone into her buttocks, has been found guilty of murder.

A Philadelphia jury on Monday convicted "Black Madam" Padge-Victoria Windslowe in the 2011 death of a British dancer following an illegal buttocks enhancement procedure that relied on injections of liquid silicone. The Common Pleas Court jury of six men and six women deliberated over two days before finding Windslowe, 43, guilty of third-degree murder in the Feb. 8, 2011 death of 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi. The jury also found Windslowe guilty of aggravated assault in the hospitalization of 23-year-old stripper Sherkeei King after a February 2012 "pumping party" in East Germantown and convicted her on two counts of possession of an instrument of a crime - the needles she used for the injections. Windslowe showed no apparent emotion as the jury returned its verdict. Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi set sentencing for June 11. The jury began hearing testimony in the case on Feb. 19 but had a four-day break last week caused by Windslowe's hospitalization for chest pain and the Thursday snowstorm. Windslowe spent a total of about 2-1/2 days testifying in her defense, insisting that the silicone injections - though illegal - were safe. She testified that she received the injections herself and had performed the procedure thousands of times since 1995. Aderotimi, 20, from London to Philadelphia for Windslowe to do buttocks enhancement injections in an airport hotel room. The autopsy showed silicone injected in Aderotimi's buttocks moved through her bloodstream and lodged in her lungs, brain and liver with fatal results. A year later, King was hospitalized, vomiting blood and gasping for air; doctors found silicone in her heart and lungs and testified that both organs sustained permanent damage. Medical experts testified that liquid silicone is no longer injected in cosmetic procedures because of its tendency to migrate through the body. Windslowe acknowledged that she had no formal medical training but was taught to do buttocks injections by a nurse in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan who gave her silicone injections. Windslowe told the jury she never heard of any problems before Aderotimi's death. Defense attorney David S. Rudenstein urged the jury to acquit Windslowe, arguing that prosecutors had not proved she had the bad motive, or malice, to support a guilty verdict. "You can conclude she was reckless, maybe, and you could conclude she was stupid for doing it," Rudenstein told the jury. "Maybe you could conclude the young ladies were stupid for going to her." Assistant District Attorney Bridget Kirn told the jury in her closing that Windslowe misled vulnerable young women by claiming she was a licensed nurse-practitioner and was using medical grade silicone in her injections. Instead, Kirn said, Windslowe had no formal medical training and injected her clients with industrial-grade silicone, plugging the injection sites with Krazy Glue and cotton balls. Kirn said Windslowe charged clients $1 per injected cubic centimeter of silicone and netted $200,000 to $600,000 in cash fees. And she kept doing the procedures after Aderotimi's death. "This case is about justice for these young ladies," Kirn told the jury. "It's about taking responsibility and for this defendant to finally take criminal responsibility for what she did."

source: Philadelphia Inquirer

She faces up to 40 years in prison.