Charges dropped in Planned Parenthood case

ported the charges when they were handed down in January, stressing at the time that at the outset of the investigation, she stated that “we must go where the evidence leads us.” That didn’t sit well with many members of her party.

Defense attorneys said the activists never should have been charged. And Merritt and Daleiden, who founded a group called the Center for Medical Progress, had rejected plea deals offering them probation.

“I’m glad the First Amendment rights of all citizen journalists 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, from Davis, California, and Merritt, from San Jose, California, used fake driver’s licenses to conceal their identities from Planned Parenthood 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.

Terry Yates, one of 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, meaning it “didn’t have jurisdiction.”

“Regardless of however it came, we’re happy today this matter is over,” he said.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, in a statement, said just because the charges were dropped, it doesn’t mean the defendants were innocent.

The organization has said it never has and never would sell fetal tissue.

JAMES NIELSEN/ HOUSTON CHRONICLE VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS David Daleiden, center, speaks with supporters Tuesday outside the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston. A Texas judge on Tuesday dismissed the last remaining charge against Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, two California anti-abortion...