Center for Medical Progress’ David Daleiden took the stand again on Monday at the preliminary hearing in the lawsuit against him and co-defendant Sandra Merritt regarding whether or not they illegally recorded conversations in their investigation of fetal body part trafficking. They face 14 felony charges – one has been dropped – and could face 10 years in jail. However, California law states that recordings can be made of any conversations that can be reasonably overheard and all of the conversations Daleiden recorded occurred in public places.
Last week, Daleiden testified as to why and how he decided to begin investigating the trafficking of fetal body parts by the abortion industry, specifically Planned Parenthood. Daleiden explained that he began investigating fetal body part trafficking after learning that in some cases, babies were born alive so that researchers could have fresh organs. Horrified by this, he began researching and realized no one was attempting to uncover this illegal activity or stop it. So he took matters into his own hands. Read that testimony here. On Monday, Daleiden completed that testimony and was then cross-examined by Deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron who attempted to paint Daleiden as a liar looking to take down Planned Parenthood.
CMP tweeted during the hearing Monday that “In video played in court of Doe 4, she is heard yelling the names of the people she told Daleiden to contact. She’s yelling names while at the hotel lobby” confirming she was in a public place sharing so-called confidential information.
READ: David Daleiden reveals to court what led to undercover sting exposing baby body parts trafficking
At one point during questioning on Monday, Daleiden testified that Kristi Rebolcaba of StemExpress had told him about selling a “vial full of stem cells from an aborted baby for $17,000” indicating that profits were being made off of human fetal body parts which is illegal.
He also noted a Stanford study citing StemExpress as the provider of fetal hearts, which Dr. Stephen McCurdy, director of UC Davis Master of Public Health Program, said would require a beating heart.
“In his investigation, David Daleiden had extensive conversations with neurobiologist Dr. Hurlbut, stem cell scientist Dr. Diescher, and Dr. McCurdy. Each indicated a fetus needed to be born alive in order to collect the specimen required for research,” said CMP in a tweet on Monday.
Court House News reports that when cross-examining, Jauron asked Daleiden if his “techniques” used to investigate fetal body part trafficking including “lying.”
“Lying means different things to different people,” replied Daleiden. He later stated, “I knew I could do a more accurate and insightful investigation if I used undercover pretext.”
Jauron asked him if he turned off his camera when waiters approached the table or when crossing the street, to which Daleiden said all of the recording was done in public places. Waiters and other individuals can be seen throughout the recordings.
Daleiden told the court that he spoke with at least six attorneys regarding California’s recording laws before going undercover. Those attorneys all told him that “nothing in California prohibited recording a nonconfidential communication.” While recording conversations without a person’s consent is illegal in California, the law states that if the conversations can be reasonably overheard, the law does not apply.
Jauron said that in the National Abortion Federation exhibitor agreement, which Daleiden signed as Robert Sarkis, a rep from the fake tissue procurement company BioMax, there is a line that states “all information is confidential and should not be disclosed to any third parties.”
Daleiden said he remembers that paragraph of the agreement. Under questioning from Merritt’s defense attorney Horatio Mihet, Daleiden had previously explained that he and Merritt only recorded conversations in public areas during the National Abortion Federation conference including hotel common areas and public sections of restaurants.
“I tried to keep recordings within the boundaries of California law as I understood it,” he said.
Jauron told Daleiden that abortion is not homicide in California, to which he replied that he “never described legal induced abortion as homicide. I was referring to fetuses being born alive. I was asking about the infanticide part.”
If Merritt and Daleiden are put on trial and convicted of illegally recording confidential conversations they face up to ten years in prison.
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