Charges dropped against pro-life reporters behind Planned Parenthood videos
Charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, the two reporters whose undercover videos of Planned Parenthood employees selling fetal body parts shocked the nation, have been dropped in Texas.
Harris County prosecutors had accused the journalists of tampering with a government record - using a fake ID to gain entrance to a Planned Parenthood office.
In a joint statement, Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt called the charges “bogus” and “politically motivated,” accusing the Harris County District Attorney’s Office of working to benefit Planned Parenthood.
“Planned Parenthood tried to collude with public officials to manipulate the legal process to their own benefit, and they failed,” they said in the statement.
The District Attorney’s Office also had charged Mr. Daleiden with illicitly attempting to purchase human organs, stemming from a fake fetal tissue procurement firm, BioMax, he created as a part of his investigation. That indictment was dismissed earlier this month.
District Attorney Devon Anderson drew the ire of the pro-life movement over the charges. Pro-life activists pointed out that Mr. Daleiden was charged for fictitiously attempting to buy human remains from abortions, while Planned Parenthood was cleared of any charges for genuinely trying to sell them.
Peter Breen, an attorney for the Thomas More Society who represented Mr. Daleiden, said the “meritless and retaliatory prosecution should never have been brought.”
“Planned Parenthood did wrong here, not David Daleiden,” Mr. Breen said in a statement.
It later was revealed that Ms. Anderson has multiple ties to the abortion business. For instance, one of her assistant district attorneys, Lauren Reeder, serves on the board of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. Ms. Anderson maintained that Ms. Reeder had nothing to do with the indictment against Mr. Daleiden.
Josh Schaffer, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, also admitted under oath that the DA’s office had improperly shared evidence with Planned Parenthood about the case against Mr. Daleiden.
And Ms. Anderson accepted a $25,000 contribution to her 2014 re-election campaign from attorney Chip Lewis, who represents a Houston late-term abortionist.
In 2013 a grand jury led by Ms. Anderson declined to bring an indictment against late-term abortionist Douglas Karpen, who was accused of killing babies born alive during abortions by twisting their necks.
Lovely people that prosecutor is hanging around with.
The two reporters aren't out of the legal woods yet:
Daleiden and Merritt are not yet out of the legal woods. The state of California, led by Attorney General Kamala Harris, is investigating charges against the pair, and the Justice Department – under pressure from pro-abortion Democratic Congressmen – had said it had reviewed the matter.
NARAL and a handful of Planned Parenthood affiliates have filed a civil lawsuit over covert footage of NARAL’s annual convention in California, as well.
This is only the most recent example of liberals attacking their political opponents using novel, or trumped up interpretations of the law to intimidate and destroy. The campaign against Exxon for disagreeing with the liberal notion of climate change is another. There was a campaign in Wisconsin to silence and intimidate conservative activists for backing Governor Walker in his bid to defeat a recall vote.
The list goes on and on. Their actions stem from a basic disrespect for the law and what it stands for. When the law becomes a tool of oppression, rather than a means to establish fairness and justice, liberty is endangered and a well ordered society is threatened.
Correction. This blog erroneously referred to Harris County including Austun. That is incorrect.