Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008
Kline asks judge to order clinic to turn over records
Jack Weinstein
Print
E-Mail
AIM
ReprintAfter 50 days, the attorneys for Planned Parenthood in Overland Park have not complied with a Johnson County grand jury’s request for abortion records.
Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline filed a motion Tuesday asking District Court Judge Kevin Moriarty to order that the records be given to the grand jury.
The motion said that because of the delay, the grand jury has been prevented from conducting its investigation. Jurors have met only 11 times, and their service expires March 10.
“No grand jury can complete a well-reasoned investigation in so little time without subpoenas, directed at the target of the investigation, being enforced by the court,” it said.
Pedro Irigonegaray and Robert Eye, attorneys for the clinic, and Peter Brownlie, its president and chief executive officer, couldn’t be reached Tuesday evening.
The subpoena requests the records of 16 women who received abortions in 2003 at the clinic to see if the clinic complied with the state’s parental-consent and 24-hour-notification laws.
Irigonegaray and Eye have argued that producing such records would violate the patients’ privacy.
The subpoena requests the patients’ dates of birth, dates of last menstrual period, dates and times of medical procedures and consultations, dates and times of any required notification and compliance with any required waiting period.
The subpoena does not request patients’ names, Social Security numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, next of kin or insurance information.
On Friday, the motion said, Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve Maxwell, objected to an agreement between Planned Parenthood and Larry McClain, the grand jury’s appointed special counsel, to turn over the records.
Maxwell said that the agreement could place the grand jurors under civil and criminal liability, and that it would tie the hands of the district attorney’s office in the prosecution of its existing criminal case against the clinic, making it impossible for the office to prosecute Planned Parenthood if the grand jury indicted the clinic.
In October, Kline filed 107 criminal charges against the clinic — including 23 felonies — alleging it falsified abortion records, failed to maintain abortion documents, failed to determine viability for late-term abortions and performed illegal late-term abortions.
In defending the agreement Friday, the testimony of Rick Merker, the other appointed special counsel for the grand jury, revealed that the entire grand jury hadn’t seen the agreement before it was presented in open court.
When the grand jury saw the agreement, it rejected it, instead requesting the records it had subpoenaed. Moriarty subsequently voided the agreement and asked the clinic’s attorneys to turn over records to the grand jury.
Irigonegaray and Eye turned over some records, but according to the motion, the records didn’t comply with the subpoena.
“The production of documents was not only insufficient, but also represented a bizarre occurrence where the subject of an investigation was consulted to determine the course of the investigation,” the motion said.
Further, the motion alleged that McClain called Planned Parenthood’s attorneys Monday while the grand jury was in session, disturbing the grand jury’s right to secret proceedings as required under Kansas law.
“Such actions by the special counsel are outrageous and undermine the duty of the grand jury to conduct an independent investigation,” it said.
In concluding his motion, Kline wrote that at this point, it would be improper for the grand jury to issue an indictment without the clinic complying with the subpoena.
“If the grand jury is prevented from viewing the documents, testimony and other evidence, it cannot in good conscience come to any conclusion one way or another,” it said.
The grand jury was seated Dec. 10 after the anti-abortion group Life Is for Everyone (LIFE) Coalition filed a petition to convene the grand jury to investigate whether Planned Parenthood complies with state abortion laws.