Attorneys For Abortion Provider Tiller Petition Kansas Supreme Court To Block Grand Jury Investigation

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Abortion;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 29 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PDT

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Attorneys for abortion provider George Tiller last week filed a motion with the Kansas Supreme Court to block a grand jury investigation of him and his Wichita, Kan.-based clinic, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. The grand jury is scheduled to convene Tuesday in Sedgwick County, Kan. (AP/Kansas City Star, 10/24).

Former Sedgwick County Chief Judge Paul Buchanan earlier this month denied a motion filed by Tiller's attorneys that sought to dismiss a petition seeking to convene a grand jury to investigate Tiller. The antiabortion group Kansans for Life in September delivered a petition that contained 7,857 signatures asking the Sedgwick County District Court to convene a grand jury and appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate Tiller. Petitioners want the grand jury to examine late-term abortions that Tiller performed during the past five years and the reasons cited for the abortions.

Tiller's attorneys said that he has been investigated several times in the past year and that another grand jury investigation would be "unfair, harassing and bad faith." U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten in September ruled against the motion and suggested Tiller's attorneys refile the motion in state court. If the grand jury is seated, it will conduct at least the fifth investigation of Tiller since 2006, including a pending case in which state Attorney General Paul Morrison (D) has charged Tiller with 19 misdemeanors for allegedly violating a state law that requires an independent, consulting physician to approve some late-term abortions (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/3).

In the petition to the state Supreme Court, Tiller's attorneys said that antiabortion groups would benefit financially from Tiller's prosecution. The petition also notes that abortion opponents sold bumper stickers that read, "Charge Tiller. It's the law." The same slogan has been printed on T-shirts worn by abortion opponents at rallies, the AP/Google.com reports. "You approach the level of vigilantism, and I think we see that happening in this instance," Tiller attorney Lee Thompson said Wednesday. The state Supreme Court has not scheduled a hearing for Tiller's petition (Hanna, AP/Google.com, 10/24).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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