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| Last Charges Dropped Against Abortion Opponents in Planned Parenthood Case | Last Charges Dropped Against Abortion Opponents in Planned Parenthood Case |
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| HOUSTON — Prosecutors dismissed Tuesday the last of the charges against two anti-abortion activists who covertly recorded a video of themselves meeting with Planned Parenthood officials, effectively ending a case that had drawn national attention from both opponents and supporters of abortion. | HOUSTON — Prosecutors dismissed Tuesday the last of the charges against two anti-abortion activists who covertly recorded a video of themselves meeting with Planned Parenthood officials, effectively ending a case that had drawn national attention from both opponents and supporters of abortion. |
| The activists, David R. Daleiden, 27, and Sandra S. Merritt, 62, members of the Center for Medical Progress, were indicted by a grand jury in Harris County, Tex., in January on charges of tampering with government records and offering to buy fetal tissue at a meeting at which Planned Parenthood officials explained how they provide the tissue to medical researchers. Their video, which was widely circulated on the internet, alleged that Planned Parenthood was guilty of the crime of selling fetal remains. | |
| After the video surfaced last summer, the Texas lieutenant governor, a Republican, asked the Republican district attorney in Harris County to examine Planned Parenthood. A grand jury ended up indicting Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt, and taking no action against Planned Parenthood. | |
| At a hearing in the case in a Houston courtroom on Tuesday, prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against the two activists by dismissing the two indictments, citing a legal technicality with the grand jury’s term. Mr. Daleiden’s lawyers had sought to have the case thrown out because the indictments came during an extension of its term. They argued that the grand jury did not have the authority to indict Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt during the so-called holdover period, and prosecutors appeared to have agreed. | |
| “The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it; however, Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury extension order is issued,” the office of the district attorney, Devon Anderson, said in a statement. “In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments.” | “The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it; however, Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury extension order is issued,” the office of the district attorney, Devon Anderson, said in a statement. “In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments.” |
| One of Mr. Daleiden’s lawyers, Jared Woodfill, said that once the grand jury’s term had expired and then extended, prosecutors could not bring a new matter and a new target of investigation before grand jurors during the holdover period. | One of Mr. Daleiden’s lawyers, Jared Woodfill, said that once the grand jury’s term had expired and then extended, prosecutors could not bring a new matter and a new target of investigation before grand jurors during the holdover period. |
| “The evidence that we had was very clear that David was never a target of an investigation during the original term, and so the indictment was fatally flawed,” Mr. Woodfill said. | “The evidence that we had was very clear that David was never a target of an investigation during the original term, and so the indictment was fatally flawed,” Mr. Woodfill said. |
| The indictment stemmed from a meeting Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt had at the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast offices in Houston. To gain entry to the building for the meeting, Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt presented to security fake California driver’s licenses. They had been each indicted on felony charges of tampering with a governmental record with the intent to defraud, and Mr. Daleiden had faced an additional misdemeanor charge related to offering to purchase human organs. | The indictment stemmed from a meeting Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt had at the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast offices in Houston. To gain entry to the building for the meeting, Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt presented to security fake California driver’s licenses. They had been each indicted on felony charges of tampering with a governmental record with the intent to defraud, and Mr. Daleiden had faced an additional misdemeanor charge related to offering to purchase human organs. |