Attorney: Kline files criminal charges against Tiller (Kansas Abortion Doctor)

[Blue Gardener]

Attorney General Phill Kline, a vocal opponent of abortion, has filed criminal charges against Wichita-based physician and abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, Tiller's attorney said today.

Attorney Dan Monnat is scheduled to discuss the charges at a news conference scheduled for 11:15 a.m. in Wichita. Officials in Kline's office have not returned calls from The Eagle or Associated Press seeking comment.

In the past, Kline has said he is investigating, among other things, whether Tiller and other abortion providers have performed illegal late-term abortions and have failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/16300030.htm

[brentspeak]

1. Sounds like legal harrasment to score political brownie points

[Blue Gardener]

2. This poor guy has been harassed for years

But he keeps on going. Gotta admire him for that, most people would have thrown in the towel long ago.

[KansDem]

3. Is he acting on specific complaints or is this just a "fishing expedition?"

The article isn't clear.

[DURHAM D]

4. Didn't Kline request a bunch of his medical records?

I think the doctor and the attorney general have been battling for sometime over the violation of privacy of the female patients.

[Tempest]

7. Yes, but he didn't get what he wanted

Kline wanted the records intact, the judge said he could get them but not until certain information was blacked out.

Patient names, which was what Kline was really looking for, were not released.

[Blue Gardener]

9. Waiting for updates

From the news conference. We should have more details then.

[VegasWolf]

5. Religious fruitcakes should not be allowed in political positions. nt

[Tempest]

6. Kline lost an attempt to get Tiller's clinic records

This is harrassment, plain and simple.


On edit:

Kline received the records, but they were heavily retracted and didn't contain the information Kline wanted, like patient names.

[hatrack]

8. Yeah, he'll win even MORE friends and allies in his new job after this!

What a pantload.

[catmandu57]

10. WTF is this guy trying to prove

He's out of the job in two weeks, i don't think the AG elect is going to pick it up, go home fucknutz leave the sane people alone.

[Blue Gardener]

11. Update - Charges Dropped!

A misdemeanor case against Wichita-based abortion provider George Tiller was dropped today at the request of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who said Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline overstepped his bounds.

Foulston said that although the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer in the state, he cannot pursue charges in a particular county without being invited by the local prosecutor to do so, or been given authority by the governor.

"The filing of criminal charges by Phill Kline is the last gasp of a defeated and discredited politician," Lee Thompson said this morning at his law office in Wichita. "Rather than exercising his duty as a prosecutor to see that justice is done, he has chosen to engage in a malicious and spiteful prosecution on the eve of Christmas."

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/16300030.htm

[progressoid]

12. Thanks for the update

I knew there had to be a sane person in Kansas able to stop this crap.

[tblue37]

13. self delete

[MidwestTransplant]

14. But what about this?

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/22/D8M63MTG1.html

Says charges were dropped. These are new ones?

[Tempest]

15. The charges were dropped just hours after the complaint was unsealed

Clark signed his one-page order only hours after Kline's complaint against Tiller was unsealed