D.A. Dismisses All Bogus Charges Against David Daleiden for Exposing Planned Parenthood

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 26, 2016   |   10:59AM   |   Washington, DC

On the night the head of the Planned Parenthood abortion company is slated to speak to the Democratic National Convention, the man behind the undercover videos has been vindicated. Again.

As LifeNews reported last month, a Harris County, Texas judge dismissed the bogus misdemeanor charge against David Daleiden for allegedly trying to buy body parts from the Planned Parenthood abortion business he was exposing for selling them as a part of the Center for Medical Progress’ undercover investigation.

Today, Harris County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday dismissed all charges against Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, the pro-life adovcate who worked with  him on the groundbreaking videos. From the Houston Chronicle:

The Harris County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday dismissed all charges against anti-abortion activists who secretly videotaped Planned Parenthood officials in Houston.

David Robert Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were charged with tampering with a governmental record, for using a fake identification to gain access to the facility. In a surprise move before a hearing on the legitimacy of the indictment, prosecutors dismissed the charges.

Deleiden and his attorneys claimed victory for the anti-abortion movement, saying they were satisfied with the decision.

Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 62, both of Davis, Calif., were indicted by a Harris County grand jury in January, accused of tampering with a government record for allegedly using fake driver licenses to conceal their identities while dealing with a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic.

Daleiden has maintained from the beginning that he and the Center for Medical Progress followed all applicable laws in the course of its investigative journalism and that the indictments were politically motivated.

In an email to LifeNews, Daleien had the following response:

“The dismissal of the bogus, politically motivated charges … is a resounding vindication of the First Amendment rights of all citizen journalists, and also a clear warning to any of Planned Parenthood’s political cronies who would attack whistleblowers to protect Planned Parenthood from scrutiny. Planned Parenthood tried to collude with public officials to manipulate the legal process to their own benefit, and they failed. A year after the release of the undercover videos, the ongoing nationwide investigation of Planned Parenthood by the House Select Investigative Panel makes clear that Planned Parenthood is the guilty party in the harvesting and trafficking of baby body parts for profit.”

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Meanwhile, Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, applauded the District Attorney’s decision. She told LifeNews:

“David Daleiden’s courage and fortitude to expose the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, should have been met with immediate investigation and prosecution of the baby parts profit-making scheme by the Harris County District Attorney. Yet, it was David instead of Planned Parenthood who took the heat for daring to show the nation what our tax dollars have been funding. Planned Parenthood needs to be held accountable for their horrendous business practices of betraying their clients and selling their babies piece-by-piece for profit. We need to get to the bottom of why rampant corruption occurred during the investigation in Harris County. The DA made a mockery of the office, colluded with an organization that should have had its employees arrested and charged for criminal conduct, and indicted a journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood.

“David Daleiden is a hero, and we are thrilled that these scam indictments have rightly been tossed. This is a huge win for all citizen journalists whose First Amendment rights were upheld today.”

Daleiden posted bail in response to what his attorneys and pro-life groups explain are bogus charges related to his undercover investigation and exposure of the Planned Parenthood abortion business selling the body parts of aborted babies. Dozens of pro-life advocates turned out to support him. He turned down a plea deal and Daleiden’s attorneys and supporters countered that Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson is biased because of her association with an attorney for an abortion practitioner.

Last month, LifeNews chronicled the explosive new evidence  showing the Houston district attorney behind the bogus charges against pro-life advocate David Daleiden colluded with attorneys for Planned Parenthood.

According to attorney for Daleiden, District Attorney Devon Anderson shared confidential information with the abortion business, which she was supposed to be investigating for running afoul of state laws prohibiting the purchase or sale of body parts form aborted babies.

Yet, in recent court filings by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s attorney Josh Schaffer admitted in a sworn declaration that the Harris County DA’s office shared evidence with Planned Parenthood. That occurred even after the Texas Attorney General’s office had forbidden Anderson’s office from doing so.

The declaration was included as part of the DA office’s response to David Daleiden’s motion to quash the indictment against him, alleging prosecutorial misconduct.

Under oath, Schaffer, the Planned Parenthood attorney, admitted that he and Assistant District Attorney Sunni Mitchell attempted to do an end-run around the Texas Attorney General’s directive to Mitchell not to share raw video footage with Planned Parenthood: “I was told that the Attorney General’s Office agreed to give it to the HCDAO on the condition that the HCDAO not give it to PPGC. Mitchell told me that she would try to obtain the footage by other means.”

Mitchell was responsible in 2013 for a Grand Jury that failed to indict Houston’s late-term abortionist Douglas Karpen, after photographs and eyewitness testimony implicated him in illegal late-term abortions and killing babies who were born alive after failed abortions.

“The recent filings by the Harris County District Attorney confirm that the DA shared confidential documents and information with abortion provider Planned Parenthood, colluding with it in the prosecution of David Daleiden,” said Thomas More Society Special Counsel, Peter Breen, attorney for David Daleiden.

Breen told LifeNews: “These filings also include evidence that appears to show that the DA’s office worked with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to undermine the Texas Attorney General’s independent investigation of that abortion provider. The conduct of Harris County prosecutors in this case is outrageous and illegal. We look forward to pressing our motion to quash this indictment in court.”

This is the second time attorneys from Anderson’s office and Planned Parenthood were accused of working together.

Daleiden is facing politically-motivated attacks on multiple fronts. Earlier this year, a Texas grand jury whose task was to investigate Planned Parenthood turned on the pro-life citizen journalist instead.

A Texas grand jury indicted Daleiden and another pro-life activist, Sandra Merritt, behind the videos. Instead of prosecuting Planned Parenthood for selling aborted baby parts, Daleiden was indicted for buying them.

Daleiden rejected a deal for probation on those charges in February, and his attorney said he demands an apology from the Texas district attorney who filed the bogus charges.

Anderson has defended her indictment of pro-life advocate David Daleiden despite the fact that a Planned Parenthood abortion business board members works as a prosecutor in her office. And new information LifeNews uncovered shows Anderson’s campaign received more than $25,000 from the attorney who works for a late-term abortionist.

Since the indictment, Anderson is facing criticism over her failure to prosecute an abortionist known as the Kermit Gosnell of Houston.

Anderson oversaw a previous abortion-related grand jury investigation of Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen after Operation Rescue released evidence in the form of photos and witness testimony that babies were being born alive during abortions and intentionally killed by twisting their necks. This case garnered publicity in the wake of the conviction of Pennsylvania abortionist Kermit Gosnell on three counts of First Degree Murder for intentionally killing babies born alive during abortions in a similar fashion.

That Anderson-led grand jury failed to indict Karpen despite the considerable evidence against him.

Karpen was represented at his trial by attorney Chip Lewis, who donated more than $25,000 to Anderson’s re-election campaign. Anderson has an extensive relationship with Lewis as did her husband when he was district attorney.

Anderson has also come under considerable fire for what pro-life advocates call a politically motivated indictment and because a Planned Parenthood board member works for Anderson as an assistant district attorney. Lauren Reeder is a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s criminal family law division. Reeder is listed as a non-compensated “Director” on the 990 Tax Form for 2014 filed by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

Although Anderson indicates Reeder had no role in the Daleiden indictment, there’s really no way of knowing if that is truly the case. Because of that, pro-life advocates have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the indictment and the fact that the grand jury never voted on charges related to Planned Parethood’s sale of aborted babies.

In April, pro-abortion California Attorney General Kamala Harris stole unreleased video footage concerning Planned Parenthood from Daleiden’s home.

California authorities seized a laptop and hard drives containing the video footage collected during Daleiden’s 3-year investigation of Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the illegal sale of aborted baby remains, according to a written statement made by Life Legal Defense Foundation, which is helping to defend Daleiden.

Harris, a pro-abortion Democrat, chose to focus her investigation on Daleiden and his associates rather than Planned Parenthood, even though the video footage so far released by Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress shows clear evidence that Planned Parenthood was illegally altering abortion procedures to endure intact organs targeted for harvesting then selling the organs for profit.

Since the California Department of Justice, under the leadership of Democratic State Attorney General Kamala Harris, searched the home of David Daleiden on Tuesday, there have been numerous news stories noting an apparent conflict of interest in Harris’ investigation of Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress that ignores obvious evidence of illegal conduct on the part of Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood has donated $81,000 to Harris and, because of the massive conflict of interest, pro-life groups are calling for her resignation.

Harris also was endorsed by the pro-abortion National Organization for Women. NOW describes her as a “longtime, vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood” who promised to investigate CMP and fight for taxpayer funding of the abortion business.

Harris oversaw the raid — but she has significant conflict of interest problems. She is funded by Planned Parenthood and her web site is currently promoting a petition for the abortion business.

The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation. Here is a list of all twelve:

  • In the first video: Dr. Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on baby-crushing: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
  • In the second video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Mary Gatter joked, “I want a Lamborghini” as she negotiated the best price for baby parts.
  • In the third video: Holly O’Donnell, a former Stem Express employee who worked inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, detailed first-hand the unspeakable atrocities and how she fainted in horror over handling baby legs.
  • In the fourth video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Savita Ginde stated, “We don’t want to do just a flat-fee (per baby) of like, $200. A per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.” She also laughed while looking at a plate of fetal kidneys that were “good to go.”
  • In the fifth video: Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood-Gulf Coast in Houston boasted of Planned Parenthood’s skill in obtaining “intact fetal cadavers” and how her “research” department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States.”
  • In the sixth video: Holly O’Donnell described technicians taking fetal parts without patient consent: “There were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”
  • In the seventh and perhaps most disturbing video: Holly O’Donnell described the harvesting, or “procurement,” of organs from a nearly intact late-term fetus aborted at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Alameda clinic in San Jose, CA. “‘You want to see something kind of cool,’” O’Donnell says her supervisor asked her. “And she just taps the heart, and it starts beating. And I’m sitting here and I’m looking at this fetus, and its heart is beating, and I don’t know what to think.”
  • In the eighth video: StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer admits Planned Parenthood sells “a lot of” fully intact aborted babies.
  • The ninth video: catches a Planned Parenthood medical director discussing how the abortion company sells fully intact aborted babies — including one who “just fell out” of the womb.
  • The 10th video: catches the nation’s biggest abortion business selling specific body parts — including the heart, eyes and “gonads” of unborn babies.The video also shows the shocking ways in which Planned Parenthood officials admit that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.
  • Unreleased Videos: Unreleased videos from CMP show Deb Vanderhei of Planned Parenthood caught on tape talking about how Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliates may “want to increase revenue [from selling baby parts] but we can’t stop them…” Another video has a woman talking about the “financial incentives” of selling aborted baby body parts.
  • The 11th video: catches a texas Planned Parenthood abortionist planning to sell the intact heads of aborted babies for research. Amna Dermish is caught on tape describing an illegal partial-birth abortion procedure to terminate living, late-term unborn babies which she hopes will yield intact fetal heads for brain harvesting.
  • The 12th video in the series shows new footage of Jennefer Russo, medical director at Planned Parenthood in Orange County, California, describing to undercover investigators how her abortion business tries to harvest intact aborted babies’ bodies for a local for-profit biotech company and changes the abortion procedure to do so.

The full, unedited videos have confirmed that revelations that some aborted baby remains sold by Planned Parenthood go to biotech companies for the purpose of creating “humanized” mice. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has been exposed as having sold body parts from aborted babies for as much as 15 years.

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