Judge Tosses Kansas Abortion Charges

Indictment Thrown Out Just Hours After Attorney General Filed 30 Counts Against Wichita Abortion Provider

(AP)  A Sedgwick County judge dismissed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Wichita physician and abortion provider George Tiller, less than a day after recently defeated Attorney General Phill Kline filed them.

Judge Paul W. Clark dismissed the case against Tiller after Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said that her office had not been consulted by Kline, a vocal opponent of abortion.

Clark signed his one-page order only hours after Kline's complaint against Tiller was unsealed.

Kline filed his complaint Thursday, alleging that Tiller had improperly performed late-term abortions and hadn't properly reported information to the state Department of Health and Environment.

Foulston said in her request to have the case dismissed that while Kline is the state's chief law enforcement official, he doesn't have the legal authority to “unilaterally” pursue criminal charges when a county prosecutor has not asked his office to intervene or granted a request from the attorney general to handle a case.

“The district attorney has not invited or requested, consented or acquiesced, or failed to object to the filing of the complaint,” Foulston wrote.

She added: “The district attorney does in fact object to any such filing by the attorney general, as he lacks the legal authority to file such a complaint in this jurisdiction.”

Foulston cited a law saying the attorney general “shall consult with and advise” county prosecutors “when requested by them” in “all matters pertaining to their official duties.”

Tiller's clinic, known for being one of the few in the United States to do late-term procedures, has been a high-profile target of anti-abortion protesters for decades. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993.

Kline, who lost his re-election bid in November and leaves office in three weeks, has been investigating whether Tiller and other abortion providers performed illegal late-term abortions in Kansas or failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.

He waged a two-year legal battle before finally this year obtaining the records of 90 patients from Tiller's Wichita clinic and a clinic operated in Overland Park by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

Since the election, abortion rights activists have expected him to move against Tiller and perhaps Planned Parenthood as well.

When charges were unsealed Thursday, Tiller’s attorney Dan Monnat said, "The filing of criminal charges by Phill Kline is the last gasp of a defeated and discredited politician," the attorney said. "Rather than executing his duty as a prosecutor to see that justice is done, he has chosen to engage in a malicious and spiteful prosecution on the eve of Christmas."

[cacee13601]

i think abortions should be outlawed in every state and country unless you were raped to conceive the child.. (thats really rough) or if youre going to die and the doctors know you are (cancer, heart failure etc) then fine but theres a lot of women that have one as a form of birth control and i find that rather sick...

[randalds]

Life is not a religious issue. The Declaration of Independence states that we are to have the "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." If life begins at conception, which is what many of us believe to be true, we are morally, not religiously bound, to protect that life from those who would end it for their own selfish purposes.

Posted by stpaulhoward at 12:16 PM : Dec 23, 2006

No, but abortion is. Morality and religion are intertwined. The decision of when life begins is a question that can not be divorced from religion. For instance the only thing I have seen concerning what the bible says about when life begins is in Genesis where it says God breathed the breath of life into Adam's nostrils and he became alive. If you believe in a literal interpretation of the bible, then you must conclude that life begins at the first breath. Personally I'm an atheist and think abortion is the choice of the mother up until such a time as the fetus could survive on it's own. The point is that it's not such an easy question to answer and almost everyone of faith or no faith has their own opinion and Kline did not have the right to have his personal belief dictate how he runs a legal office like he held. He must follow the letter and spirit of the law. He did not and should go to jail.

Let me preface this by saving I respect the views on both sides of the pro-life/pro-choice debate. Regardless of your position on abortion, the actions of Phill Kline should concern you.

Kline is using taxpayer dollars and his position as Attorney General to pursue a personal vendetta against abortion clinics in Kansas. Time and time again he has bent or abused state law to advance his own claims that %u201Csomething%u201D was done improperly at the clinics. He has obtained the medical records of patients from these clinics despite a lack of any evidence suggesting a crime had been committed. Would you like your medical records, or those of your sister or daughter, released for no legal reason?

And for those who might argue that releasing records to the Attorney General can do little harm, please note that /somehow/ portions of these records were leaked from the Attorney General%u2019s office to FOX News in the midst of Kline%u2019s re-election bid. Kline has shown little interest in pursuing that legal issue.

Even in our strong Red State of Kansas, the very pro-life Kline lost his re-election campaign because we the voters became concerned with his selective enforcement of the law. While he recently convinced a group of his cronies in Johnson County Kansas to name him District Attorney, as a resident of Kansas and Johnson County, I can assure you we are watching his actions very carefully.

[stpaulhoward]

Kline is trying to obey state law, which requires honest reporting by Tiller. The article says that the attorney general shall "%u201Cshall consult with and advise%u201D county prosecutors %u201Cwhen requested by them%u201D in %u201Call matters pertaining to their official duties.%u201D In other words, he only has to consult with them when the county prosecutors reqest such a consultation.

Life is not a religious issue. The Declaration of Independence states that we are to have the "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." If life begins at conception, which is what many of us believe to be true, we are morally, not religiously bound, to protect that life from those who would end it for their own selfish purposes.

HA HA. Well Said.

[randalds]

This loser Kline attempted to use the system to advance his own religious convictions against a legal procedure. What he did was certainly malicious prosecution and beyond the authority of his office. He needs to be arrested and sent to trial for abusing his office. Maybe then he can preach to his fellow convicts in the prison showers.