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Kansas Liberty: 03 October 2008
Lawyers attack Kline - for charges filed by Morrison. AG's office seeks to delay filing of rebuttal until after hearing concludes
Prosecutor has until Nov. 17 to file response to Tiller attorneys
A prosecutor for the attorney general’s office must respond to allegations raised by attorneys for late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller prior to a week-long hearing Nov. 17, but will be allowed to file additional arguments after the hearing.
The attorney general’s office had asked Judge Clark Owens to allow them to wait until after the Nov. 17 hearing to file their response to a brief that lashed out at alleged prosecutorial misconduct by former Attorney General Phill Kline, who began the investigation during his administration. Kline has denied the allegations.
The 19 misdemeanor charges that Tiller’s clinic faces were filed by Kline’s successor Paul Morrison.
The criminal complaints allege that, of the 19 charges, 13 were related to late-term abortions performed on girls 16 years of age and younger. In one case, the abortion recipient was 10 years old.
Tiller is charged with failing to get a second unaffiliated physician to concur that a late-term abortion was medically necessary before proceeding, as required by Kansas law. Instead, Tiller received second opinions from a physician with whom he allegedly had a financial relationship.
Tiller’s lawyers argued earlier this year that that provision requiring a second opinion was unconstitutional, but Owens sided with the prosecution and upheld the constitutionality of the law.
Troy Newman, president of the pro-life group Operation Rescue, said the allegations made against Kline were unsubstantiated and are an attempt to disguise the central issue in the case – whether Tiller had a financial relationship with the physician who provided a second opinion in the 19 late-term abortions for which charges were filed.
“They are attempting to pass off huge amounts of unsubstantiated accusations as fact, and cloud the real issue that their client is accused of repeatedly breaking the law," Newman said in a press release. "Tiller's attorneys are willing to risk the lives and safety of women to keep Tiller in business, and their hourly fees rolling in."
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