The trial opened last week for the transgender woman accused of giving a fatal silicone injection to a British tourist.
Padge Victoria Windslowe, 43, who goes by the name Black Madam, is charged with third-degree murder and related charges in the 2011 death of Claudia Aderotimi, an exotic dancer who traveled to Philadelphia for a buttocks enhancement. Investigators say the illegal injection procedure Windslowe performed led to Aderotimi’s death.
Windslowe is also charged with aggravated assault in connection with another injection that put a woman in the hospital.
Jury selection began last Tuesday, and the trial, before Common Pleas Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi, officially opened last Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega told the jury that Windslowe purported to be a licensed medical professional but was instead unlicensed and using low-grade silicone. Defense attorney David Rudenstein, however, countered in his opening statement that Windslowe had performed the procedure hundreds of times, including on herself, without negative consequence, and that the woman voluntarily sought her services.
Several women took the stand who had received the injections, including a friend of Aderotimi, who introduced her to Windslowe.
The judge previously denied a defense request to present witnesses who had undergone the procedure and were satisfied with the results. Windslowe, who has pleaded not guilty, is expected to take the stand in her own defense.