Further Drama Anticipated as Tiller Hearing Resumes
by Staff
January 13, 2009
WICHITA, Kansas, (christiansunite.com) -- Testimony in a pre-trial motion to suppress evidence against late-tem abortionist George R. Tiller is set to resume on Tuesday, January 6, after a six-week hiatus. In a case that has been anything but routine, Tiller faces 19 counts of having committed illegal late-term abortions, including one on a 10-year old girl.Scheduled to provide the anticipated courtroom drama are two fierce political rivals, Phill Kline and Paul Morrison. Morrison defeated Kline as Attorney General but was forced to resign in disgrace after news broke of his adulterous affair with a former employee. That woman, Linda Carter, said in a sworn statement that Morrison pressured her to help him impede on-going abortion investigations by Kline, who took Morrison's place as Johnson County District Attorney.
Carter has been unwillingly subpoenaed by Tiller's defense and is scheduled to testify.
Tiller is asking Judge Clark Owens to suppress the evidence against him in abortion records obtained by Kline as Attorney General, and on which Morrison based the charges Tiller now faces.
"Never before have two former attorneys general, and their subordinates - not to mention an illicit lover -been forced to testify by a defendant in a pre-trial motion of a misdemeanor criminal case to give an account for their decisions to prosecute. The proceedings, and the drama they promise to produce, are unprecedented in Kansas history," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"But make no mistake; this hearing is more about Tiller's efforts to influence public opinion by deflecting attention away from his own criminal behavior, than it is about guilt, innocence, or the rule of law," said Newman. "Tiller's attorneys have based their case on twisted facts, wild conclusions, and the attribution of sinister motives to routine law-enforcement tasks. That kind of dishonesty is truly despicable."
This criminal case has a long and often complicated history. In order to help simplify this case, Operation Rescue has published a list of those involved in the proceedings along with thumbnail sketches that show how they are involved. Also available is a timeline of efforts to bring Tiller to justice.
Operation Rescue representatives plan to monitor the hearings, and will issue daily reports on their web site.
