Prosecutors drop last charges in anti-abortion video case
HOUSTON — Texas prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the last remaining charges a g a i n s t t w o C a l i f o r n i a anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves posing as representatives of a research firm and trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.
D i s t r i c t J u d g e B r o c k Thomas dismissed charges of tampering with government records against David Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 63, at the request of the Harris County prosecutor’s office. The prosecutors said they concurred with the defense’s argument that a grand jury tasked with investigating accusations against Planned Parenthood exceeded its authority when it instead indicted the activists after clearing the abortion provider of wrongdoing.
“The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it; however, Texas law limits what c an be investigated after a grand jury extension order is issued,” Di s t r i c t At t o r ney Devon Anderson said in a state - ment. “In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments.”
Anderson, a Republican who ran as a “proud, pro-life Texan mother of two” during the 2014 election, supported the charges when they were handed down in January, stressing at the time that at the outset of the investigation, she had said that “we must go where the evidence leads us.”
Defense attorneys said the activists never should have been charged. Merritt and Daleiden, whose Center for Medical Progress made the undercover videos, had rejected plea deals offering them probation.
“I’m glad the First Amendment rights of all citizen jour- nalists have been vindicated today,” Daleiden said after the hearing. “And I would just note that Planned Parenthood is still under investigation by the United States Congress, as they should be, because they are the real criminals in this matter.”
Prosecutors alleged that Daleiden, of Davis, Calif., and Merritt, of San Jose, Calif., used fake driver’s licenses to conceal their identities from Planned Parenthood officials during the 30-month undercover video operation.
They said the two posed as representatives of a fake biomedical company and sought to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sold parts of aborted fetuses to researchers.
Texas authorities initially began a grand jury investigation of Planned Parenthood after the undercover videos were released last August. But the grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of misusing fetal tissue and instead indicted Merritt and Daleiden, who said he was working undercover as a journalist to expose illegalities in the handling of fetal tissue.
T e r r y Y a t e s , o n e o f Daleiden’s lawyers, said the prosecutor’s office agreed with their contention that the grand jury improperly used its extended term to further investigate the case.
“Regardless of however it came, we’re happy today this matter is over,” he said.
Merritt wasn’t at the hearing. Asked if the dismissal could be considered to be based on a technicality, her lawyer, Dan Cogdell, said it didn’t matter.
“As long as my client gets a dismissal, I don’t care what they call it,” he said. “But she really was not guilty.”
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, in a statement, countered that the dismissal of the charges did not mean the defendants were innocent.