WASHINGTON, DC — Jeff White, former Operation Rescue leader, was found not guilty in the District of Columbia of keeping a dead body for the purpose of display to the public.
White was arrested at the nation’s capital for allegedly displaying the remains of a pre-born baby outside a Washington, DC, abortion clinic during the pro-abortion March for Women’s Lives in April, 2004. White was arrested and dragged away from Planned Parenthood after police confiscated the vial containing a baby’s remains. Just twenty feet away from White stood the entrance to the Washington, DC, Planned Parenthood, where, at that very moment, abortionists were dismembering babies the same size as the one White allegedly displayed.
After a 10-day trial, the judge found that the government had failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and noted several deficiencies in the government’s prosecution of Mr. White.
Operation Rescue lead attorney, Brian Chavez-Ochoa, who represented White with the assistance of Life Legal Defense Foundation, said that the judge’s decision was well reasoned and well supported by the evidence presented at trial in finding Mr. White not guilty. “The Lord Jesus Christ deserves the credit and the glory for this victory.”
It became evident during the trial that this case revolved around the question of the humanity of the pre-born child. During closing arguments, the judge asked the government whether or not the fetus at issue was a human. The government, in response first indicated that it was, but later said that the baby was part of a human body. The government position on this issue confused even the judge and it became apparent to courtroom observers that the government prosecutor was conflicted about the issue of the humanity of the fetus.
If convicted, White would have faced up to three months in jail and a $200 fine.
Read previous story.
View photos of Jeff’s arrest.