David Daleiden, leader of The Center for Medical Progress, was indicted in Harris County, Texas, in January for both a misdemeanor and a felony in his role in exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted fetal body parts – but now he’s the one accusing Harris County of illegal behavior.
On Thursday, Daleiden’s attorneys filed two motions to quash the charges against him. He was charged with a second-degree felony (which could send him to prison for up to 20 years), and a misdemeanor on attempting to buy human organs. Attorneys are asking that both charges be dropped due to illicit behavior on the part of the grand jury, as they believe the indictments were not above board.
Attorneys for David Daleiden today filed a motion to quash the indictment by the Harris County District Attorney citing a series of abuses that occurred during and after the grand jury’s proceedings that are in violation of Mr. Daleiden’s due process rights under the Texas Constitution. Prosecutors systematically leaked Grand Jury information to an [sic] unauthorized persons and the grand jury acted without proper authority.
A summary of the motions shows that Daleiden’s attorneys are arguing his due process was violated and the grand jury information was given to people unauthorized to receive it:
The Houston Chronicle reports:
“The DA’s office has chosen to wage a war on the pro-life movement,” said attorney Jared Woodfill. “We believe there is clear evidence of Planned Parenthood actually colluding with and pushing the District Attorney’s office to move forward with these indictments.”
At a press conference on the courthouse steps that Daleiden did not attend, Woodfill and attorney Terry Yates said the indictments are “fatally flawed.”
The paper adds that prosecutors even offered David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt “a form of probation,” which Merritt is taking:
Prosecutors have offered pretrial diversion, a form of probation, to Daleiden and his colleague, Sandra Susan Merritt, of San Jose, Calif. She was also charged with tampering with a governmental record and is apparently taking the probation offer.
Pre-trial diversion is a form of probation that typically does not require a guilty plea or stringent conditions. If a suspect stays out of trouble, the charges are eventually dismissed.
Now Daleiden is not only refusing the pretrial diversion probation, but he is fighting back against the injustices in Texas which he says are the result of collusion and wrongdoing on behalf of the prosecutors charged with upholding justice. Peter Breen, Thomas More Society special counsel, said:
The irregularities in the case were manifold. The abuses occurring during and after the grand jury’s proceedings were in gross violation of Mr. Daleiden’s right to due process under the Texas Constitution as well as his statutory rights.
Breen added that in addition to the grand jury taking actions for which they did not have proper authority, prosecutors violated the law by systematically leaking information to unauthorized persons.
Daleiden has fought accusations against wrongdoing since the beginning when Planned Parenthood tried to turn its illegal actions back on him and staffers at CMP. Once again, he has shown he is not backing down from his insistence that the real criminals are those who are brokering body parts from aborted babies, not those exposing the crime.
The motion to quash the misdemeanor charges can be read here.
The motion to quash the felony charge may be read here.
