Wichita, KS — The Special Prosecutor appointed to the criminal case against late-term abortionist George R. Tiller was fired yesterday by Attorney General Paul Morrison, whose campaign for office was helped by an estimated $1 million in political mailers tied directly to Tiller.
“This is just the beginning of the political pay-back,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “I am sure Morrison is scrambling up in Topeka right now looking for any reason at all to bury the Tiller case.”
The infamous Wichita abortionist was charged by out-going Attorney General Phill Kline with 30 counts related to 15 incidents of illegal late-term abortions. Kline appointed attorney Don McKinney as independent special prosecutor to oversee the case.
Morrison has repeatedly told the media that he would fire McKinney, asserting that McKinney cannot be “independent” because he holds pro-life beliefs.
“That is not what it means to be an independent special prosecutor. An independent prosecutor is endowed with the power of an attorney general, but works outside the structure of the office so that he can pursue a case without impediment from politics or other influences. It does not mean that a person has no opinions,” said Newman. “We assume that Morrison possesses the basic language skills that would allow him to understand the difference, and therefore can only conclude that he is intentionally using deceptive language to confuse the issue at hand.”
“It is the height of hypocrisy for Morrison to portray himself as ‘independent’ or ‘objective’ while criticizing McKinney, because Morrison personally holds extreme pro-abortion beliefs, and has benefited from support linked directly to Tiller,” Newman noted. “If anything, he is a man in the pocket of the abortion industry.”
“Morrison is applying a grossly unfair double standard here. If you are pro-life, you are not qualified to prosecute crimes against an abortionist, but if you are radically pro-abortion, then you would be considered ‘objective’ according to Morrison’s flawed logic. This kind of intellectual dishonesty would be laughable if it were not for the fact that the end result will be the avoidable and tragic deaths of more viable babies that should have the protection of Kansas law,” said Newman.
“Morrison’s firing of McKinney is more the act of a desperate politician trying to appease the special interests that own him, rather than an objective prosecutor weighing the facts. Morrison, because of his pro-abortion bias, should remove himself from any influence or connection with this case. That would be the right thing to do.”
Operation Rescue is holding an event called A Cry For Justice in Wichita, KS, from January 19-22 to call for reinstatement of criminal charges against Tiller. Please click here for more information.