By Richard PEREZ•PENA 

The lawyer for an East Village doctor, who is on trial for attempting an illegal third-trimester abortion and severing the baby's arm in the process, yesterday accused most of the witnesses of lying and contended that it was doctors at Jamaica Hospital in Queens who removed the arm.

In his closing arguments in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Ronald J. Veneziano, the lawyer for Dr. Abu Hayat, asserted that the mother of the maimed baby, Jamaica Hospital employees and a former aide to Dr. Hayat all lied on the witness stand to conceal their own misdeeds. The charges against Dr. Hayat, he said,' were a result of those lies, honest mistakes made by the defendant and misunderstandings.

Mr. Veneziano argued that when, Dr. Hayat examined Rosa Rodriguez, a Dominican immigrant, in October 1991, he believed her to be three or four months pregnant, within the legal limit for an abortion. He noted that Ms: Rodriguez agreed with that estimate in her testimony. He also suggested that Ms. Rodriguez knew she was actually farther along.

'A Different Standard'

A doctor at Jamaica Hospital also estimated at first that the woman was three or four months pregnant, Mr. Veneziano said. "Why is Dr. Hayat held to a different standard?" he asked.

The prosecutor, Margaret Finerty, an assistant district attorney, countered that Dr. Hayat repeatedly told Ms. Rodriguez not to go to a hospital and falsely told a State Department of Health investigator that he had never treated her, Ms. Finerty said. "That shows you he had something to hide," she added.

Ms. Rodriguez went to the hospital hours after her second visit to Dr. Hayat and gave birth to a baby girl, who survived despite the attempted abortion. It was determined that the

mother had been 30 to 32 weeks, or 7 to 7 1_/2 months pregnant, well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks.

Mr. Veneziano seized on Ms. Rodriguez's testimony that after the delivery she saw blood flowing from the stump of the baby's arm. "There is only one Irresistible inference that could lead to: That the baby's arm was just removed, at Jamaica Hospital," Mr. Veneziano asserted. He did not offer a reason for its removal at the hospital.

Defying Common Sense

The defense claim, Ms. Finerty said, defied both the evidence and common sense.

Calls to Jamaica Hospital for comment were not returned.

The authorities have described Dr. Hayat's clinic at 9 Avenue A as an "abortion mill," one of several in New York City that provide substandard care at inflated prices to thousands of mostly poor, immigrant women who are unaware that they have better options. In the weeks after his arrest, more than 30 women came forward to say that Dr. Hayat had botched their abortions.

Dr. Hayat is charged with attempting an illegal abortion, assault against both the mother and her baby and submitting false records.

He is also charged with assaulting another patient, Marie Moise, by performing an incomplete abortion, leading to a near-fatal infection. Her husband, David Moise, testified that Dr. Hayat stopped during the procedure and forced the patient, semiconscious and bleeding, to leave because Mr. Moise could not produce $500 in cash.

Mr. Veneziano told the jury that the dispute between Dr. Hayat, a native of India, and the Moises, who are Haitian, resulted from a failure to understand each other in English.

If convicted of all charges, Dr. Hayat could receive a maximum sentence of 20/₃ to 61 years in prison.