Story published: Wednesday, Mar. 05, 2008
Report: Grand jury laws should be reviewed
Jack Weinstein
The Johnson County grand jury that recently concluded its investigation of Planned Parenthood’s Overland Park clinic wants the law that allows Kansas residents to petition the seating of grand juries to be reviewed.
“It is the feeling of this grand jury that the current statute that addresses the formation of a grand jury be evaluated as to evidence required to call the grand jury,” jurors wrote in a report released Tuesday.
The grand jury ended its service Monday without indicting the clinic.
The grand jury was seated Dec. 10 after the Life is For Everyone (LIFE) Coalition, an anti-abortion group, submitted a petition to seat a grand jury to investigate whether the clinic complies with state abortion laws. Kansas is one of six states that allows its residents to petition for the formation of grand juries.
LIFE spokesman Tim Golba of Lenexa said his group isn’t worried about any recommended changes to the state statute. He said that the group hadn’t decided whether to start another petition drive, but that it would have a better idea by the weekend.
Golba said he was disappointed in the grand jury’s decision to not indict Planned Parenthood because he didn’t believe the abortion records the grand jury subpoenaed to see if the clinic complied with the state’s parental-notification and 24-hour consent laws were provided.
The clinic provided records on a spreadsheet that didn’t include personal information of 16 women who received abortions. Judge Kevin Moriarty verified that the records matched the medical information on the spreadsheet and gave it to the grand jury to review.
Golba said he didn’t think that arrangement complied with the subpoena.
“I believe the 15 members of the grand jury were misled tremendously,” he said. “I do not put any blame on them, and our organization puts the blame fully on (Moriarty) and (grand jury special counsel Larry McClain).”
Golba suggested seating a grand jury to investigate possible corruption by Moriarty and McClain, including withholding evidence of criminal activity.
In its report, the grand jury also requested that the percentage of the population required to convene a grand jury be re-evaluated.
To convene a grand jury, Kansas law requires that signatures are obtained from 2 percent of county residents who voted in the last governor’s race plus 100. Seating the grand jury to investigate Planned Parenthood required at least 3,739 signatures.
The grand jury, in its report, also pointed out that petitioners didn’t need any evidence prior to submitting their request to seat a grand jury to the court for certification.
Golba called the grand jury’s report “ridiculous.”
“It looks as if Moriarty, (McClain) and Planned Parenthood did a good job of writing the report,” he said.