Late-term abortion charges blocked again in Sedgwick County
3:24 p.m. Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Once again out-going Attorney General Phill Kline moved forward with charging George Tiller, a Wichita abortion provider, with conducting late-term abortions. And, once again a Sedgwick County judge blocked those charges.
Kline today said he will appoint a special prosecutor to take over his investigation into abortions performed by Tiller.
Kline’s announcement came just minutes before a scheduled hearing in Wichita in front of a judge who last week dismissed 30 misdemeanor charges that Kline filed against Tiller.
The charges accuse of performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 and failing to properly report the details to state officials.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline
Kline, who is leaving office Jan. 8 after losing his re-election bid, said he will appoint Don McKinney, an attorney from Wichita, to be the “independent special prosecutor.”
McKinney “will have full discretion regarding how the state will proceed with its case against Mr. Tiller,” Kline said in a prepared statement.
Kline, an ardent abortion opponent, has accused Tiller of performing illegal late term abortions. Tiller has denied the charge, saying the late-term abortions comply with exceptions to the law.
McKinney, a Democrat, endorsed Kline, a conservative Republican, in last month’s election.
Kline lost that contest to Republican-turned-Democrat Paul Morrison.
Morrison criticized Kline repeatedly over the investigation into abortion clinics run by Tiller and Planned Parenthood in Overland Park. He said Kline was abusing his power in the investigation.
In his statement today, Kline said the appointment of McKinney would preserve the investigation once Morrison takes over the attorney general’s office.
“This appointment of an independent special prosecutor will remove this investigation from a highly charged political process in which millions of dollars has been spent in media and campaign efforts to elect as Attorney General a candidate who, without reviewing any of the evidence, repeatedly pledged not to pursue this investigation and expended the majority of his campaign criticizing the existence of the investigation,” Kline said.
After the election, Morrison asked Kline to hold off on any action in the case.
When asked what he would do with the investigation when he took office, Morrison said, “That is an open case now, and I have an obligation to look at all open cases up there, which we will do, and we’ll do that quickly. We will give that the attention that deserves. Whether that’s a lot or a little, remains to be seen.”
Scott Rothschild contributed to this report.
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Dec. 28, 2006 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)Linda (anonymous)
Yeah for Phil Kline!!! At least he's trying. Good luck Mr. McKinney!
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