Refusal to fully investigate is a slap in the face to the 6,400 voters who requested the investigation of illegal abortions and other crimes
Olathe, KS – A citizen-called grand jury that was empanelled to investigate a Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, Kansas, on seven allegations of criminal misconduct disbanded late Monday without issuing an indictment after unanimously withdrawing the only subpoena they issued in the so-called investigation.
The proceedings were tainted by misconduct on the parts of the Judge Kevin Moriarty and special prosecutors, that included improper backroom deals cut with Planned Parenthood attorneys that denied critical evidence to the grand jury as a whole. The secrecy of the grand jury was compromised at every turn.
“The people of Johnson County should be offended that the grand jury made such a mockery of this investigation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman “There is no way that they could have possibly investigated all seven allegations that the voters empanelled them to investigate without inspecting any documents from Planned Parenthood.”
“It’s shocking that Planned Parenthood was allowed to direct their own investigation and dictate to the grand jury what evidence would be provided, and even how they would be allowed to view the evidence,” said Newman. “The entire process was corrupted, and Judge Moriarty is responsible for that corruption. We are considering the possibility of filing ethics charges against him.”
Moriarty refused to allow members of the grand jury to inspect 16 subpoenaed abortion records that had already had all patient-identifying information redacted, citing bogus privacy concerns. Instead, he personally took custody of the records and prepared a “spreadsheet” summary of information in the records. The grand jury was not allowed to view the evidence in context.
The L.I.F.E. Coalition, consisting of Operation Rescue, Concerned Women for America, and Women Influencing the Nation, led the petition process that convened the grand jury. The petition requested an investigation of Planned Parenthood for performing illegal late term abortions, failure to report child sex abuse, failure to provide legally mandated standard of care, filing false information with the state, illegal trafficking of fetal tissue, failure to comply with parental consent requirements, and the failure to enforce the required 24 hour waiting period.
“There’s no way the public can take the conclusion of this grand jury seriously. We are considering our legal options to insure that true justice is done,” said Newman.
Planned Parenthood still faces 107 criminal charges filed by the District Attorney’s office in October of last year.
Keep Going! Thank you for all of the work you do on behalf of all of the little ones. My husband’s tribe, in South Dakota, ousted their female president for suggesting they put a “clinic” on the reservation. I sure wish we could do that with our politicians here in Kansas.
I thought it was up to the grand jury to decide what evidence was relevant to this case? If the judge selectively filters out critical factual evidence from the grand jury to favor one side or another indicating his/her bias against one of the parties, how is this legal, fair, just, and as you pointed out ethical? What recourse against such judges do citizens have in these cases?
Just to let you know, I was on the Grand Jury seated in Johnson County. And I am Pro Life Christian! The Grand Jury was not tainted. We did what the petition asked us to do. Were there delays from Planned Parenthood? Yes there were. We were all just as frustrated as the DA was. But we also knew that there was no way we could get much evidence out of Planned Parenthood in the 90 days we were to be seated. Even the DA’s office knew this. The DA’s office did a poor job of guiding us and bringing us any evidence that a crime had been committed. We all were wanting more evidence. The DA’s office just didn’t bring it to us. And I understand why. They were just too busy with other cases. They should have put the Grand Jury off a few months until they could have brought in more witnesses, documents or whatever else they thought was important to the case. Planned Parenthood has got some great lawyers and they do a great job in delaying any documents that we wanted to see. The DA’s office knows this. They keep the meter running and they are getting huge paychecks from Planned Parenthood. I wish we could have done more to indict. But I had to be objective. I had to set my political and abortion views aside. And that is what I did. As a Grand Jury, we really worked hard with what was presented to us. The Kansas Legislatures are the ones who need to get off their behinds and change the abortion laws. They definitely make it too easy to perform abortions after 22 weeks without much proof that the fetus is not viable. Like I said before, I am Pro Life!!! Planned Parenthood and all people associated with it and all who protect it will get it in the end. God is the ultimate Judge. Tiller and other abortion Drs are no different than murderers. Their seat in hell will be deep! I guarantee that.!
Todd — why was the DA’s office busy with other cases and not helping the grand jury? Jury selection for Horton’s trial didn’t start until February 25th, and Kline was able to attend the public hearings about the grand jury’s case. What could Kline and his office have done for the grand jury that they were too busy to do? What is more important than this?
We had to take a 2 1/2 week recess because Phil Kline’s wife had health issues, which I can understand. And I know Stephen Maxwell worked about as hard as he could also, but it just seemed like he was very busy with other cases also. We met for a total of 14 days, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but we really did work very hard as a jury and we had very bright people on the Grand Jury. Phil Kline did attend at least one hearing, but other representatives were at the hearings from the DA’s office, not Phil Kline. Which is normal from what I understand. The KC Star makes it look like Phil was at every hearing, but he wasn’t. The Johnson County DA’s office is really very , very busy. I can see it just by the look in the faces of the DA’s attorneys. I know that going after Tiller and Planned Parenthood is very important. But we all know that this is going to go on for years because of liberal judges ruling in favor of PP. Until we get more conservatives on the bench, it’s going to be a long, hard battle. Which it already is. I listen to ACJL with Jay Sekulow and there are all kinds of Conservative Judges waiting confirmations appointed by Bush. It was on the radio today. But the Democrats are stalling so that their appointments will have to be cancelled. They will be cancelled because of Bush’s Presidency will have ended before he has a chance to get confirmations for them. What it is going to take is very good investigative work and to get woman to come forward with information about late term abortions, 24 hour waiting period compliance, etc. Basically a very good CSI type of investigation team to get what Operation Rescue needs to shut down these killers.