Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A transgender "body sculptor" is back in prison after spending two days in a Philadelphia hospital in the midst of her colorful murder-trial testimony.
Padge-Victoria Windslowe is accused of killing a 20-year-old London dancer with illegal buttocks injections at an airport hotel in 2011. Doctors have said the low-grade silicone spread to the victim's lungs and stopped her heart.
Windslowe, 45, complained of chest pains at the courthouse Monday as she prepared to return to the witness stand. She was released late Wednesday and back in custody at a Philadelphia prison where she has been held since her arrest in 2012, prison spokeswoman Shawn Hawes said Thursday.
It's not clear if court or medical officials were concerned about potential damage from the many silicone injections the Rubenesque former madam and hip-hop artist said she has given herself. A gag order prevents lawyers from discussing the case. Some witnesses injected by Windslowe have said they fear the future medical problems they may face.
Windslowe, who used the stage name "the Black Madam," is expected back on the stand for a third day Friday if courts reopen after a winter storm. She has been engaged in a fiery showdown with Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega during cross-examination.
After name-dropping the likes of model Amber Rose and rappers Nicki Minaj and Kanye West, Windslowe was asked if Rose was at a hotel the Christmas Eve night the defendant claimed to run into former Gov. Ed Rendell.
"You're so sarcastic, Mr. Vega," Windslowe cooed. "Amber Rose wasn't there that night."
Windslowe told jurors she learned how to do buttocks injections from overseas doctors who performed her sex-change surgeries. She said she has performed thousands of the procedures and earned the name "the Michelangelo of buttocks injections."
Two witnesses have said they were left critically ill. One woman spent months in a coma.
The jury could get the case next week. Windslowe faces 20 to 40 years if convicted of third-degree murder. She is also accused of aggravated assault and practicing medicine without a license.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
