Posted on 07/19/2017 8:10:20 PM PDT by Morgana
Yesterday Judge William Orrick held David Daleiden, the Center for Medical Progress, and two of David’s criminal defense attorneys in civil contempt for violating a court order prohibiting the release of video footage related to NAF conferences and related meetings. The footage was posted to a private website in May.
Orrick said Daleiden’s lawyers published undercover video footage of a National Abortion Federation meeting in violation of a court order.
“Criminal defense counsel … do not get to decide whether they can violate the preliminary injunction,” Orrick said Tuesday in court.
Daleiden’s criminal defense attorneys argued that the videos are essential to providing David with a robust public defense after California Attorney General Xavier Beccera charged Daleiden and Sandra Merritt with 15 felony counts of eavesdropping. The first set of charges were dismissed by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite in the criminal case for lack of specificity. Beccera recently amended and refiled the charges, this time including the file names of certain videos. However, the charges still do not name the individuals involved in the conversations during which Planned Parenthood doctors and other abortionists discuss the sale of fetal body parts for profit.
Judge Orrick’s contempt order awards approximately $137,000 to the National Abortion Federation for attorney fees and for alleged staff time to scour the internet looking for links to the Daleiden videos.
On a positive note, Judge Hite was receptive to arguments that the amended charges against Susan Merritt were not properly filed. An update will follow as soon as we know whether these charges will be dismissed.
“As always, the abortion cartel is furious that its trade in baby body parts and its willingness to violate laws that protect preborn babies from gruesome abortion procedures are being exposed,” said Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. “Since the first video release two years ago, they have been waging a vicious campaign to punish-and permanently silence-our client.”
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The video footage in question was released in May. It shows top Planned Parenthood staffers attending meetings of the National Abortion Federation in 2014 and 2015 and discussing gruesome details about aborted babies. In one clip, several attendees made jokes about eyeballs from aborted babies “rolling down into their laps.”
Orrick forced the videos to be taken down.
Daleiden refused to say whether he published the video Tuesday in court, according to the report. Orrick, who has ties to the abortion industry, said he will hold attorneys Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira in contempt.
The Center for Medical Progress, Daleiden’s group, said his attorneys are being persecuted “just for trying to use the same video evidence in his defense that the California AG is using in his prosecution.”
In a statement, Daleiden’s group continued: “The [California] State prosecution is such a bad case, Planned Parenthood and NAF want Judge Orrick to intervene in the middle of this separate (and bogus) state criminal prosecution to put his thumb on the scales and forbid David from getting a fair trial.
In June, Daleiden’s lawyers asked that Orrick recuse himself from the case, arguing that he has links to the abortion industry. They said Orrick has had a long relationship with an group that partners with Planned Parenthood, and his wife publicly supported abortion online.
While Orrick was secretary of the board of the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, the organization “embedded a Planned Parenthood clinic inside its premises, and lists among its ‘key partnerships’ … Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific …” according to the request.
The Planned Parenthood affiliate also is a member of the National Abortion Federation, the plaintiff in the case, according to the court document.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed charges against Daleiden and fellow investigator Sandra Merritt in March, alleging that they recorded private conversations without people’s consent in the state.
The Thomas More Society, which is representing Daleiden in the case, questioned who really is running the show:
“The pendency of simultaneous federal civil cases proceeding side-by-side with such a major state criminal prosecution of multiple felonies was bound to breed the most serious and grave complications, not to mention the miscarriage of justice. Must the pro-lifers’ criminal defense lawyers seek prior federal permission before summoning or cross-examining prosecution witnesses, or introducing videos or other documentary evidence into the trial record? Must the state court Judge, Hon. Christopher Hite, consult with the federal Judge, Hon. William Orrick, before ruling on objections to evidence?
“And who is actually directing the criminal case, Attorney General Becerra, or the federal civil plaintiffs, the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who lobbied him and his predecessor, then Attorney General Kamala Harris, to bring these excessive felony charges? We will carry on with efforts to see that justice is ultimately achieved in these troubling cases.”
How about we force the judge to pay instead by getting him disbarred, and his reputation ruined?
How about we force the judge to pay instead by getting him disbarred, and his reputation ruined?
Harriet Tubman fined for smuggling slaves to freedom. Frederick Douglas fined for telling his life story.
Thank you Father for this wonderful servant. We Christians know by faith that no weapon formed against Your servant— doing Your will—lead to anything but the ultimate dismay and destruction of the one(s) forming such. i still pray for David, his own and his staff’s personal deliverance from unecessary suffering and persecution. As i pray for all your servant’s who are under attack by the powers of this world. Your will as always be done.
In Your gracious and lovely Son’s name. Amen.
What did the order stem from?
A blatant violation of the First Amendment. Welcome to the USSA.
Wm. Orrick could have a special place in HELL reserved for him!
Liberals are fools. Their only advantage over us is our respect for the rule of law (a trait leftists do not share). By abusing judicial power, they are going to destroy that too. Perhaps they think they will have an advantage in the chaos that follows, if even that part of government loses the small vestiges of respect that remain, but the odds are very much against them.
The judge is on the payola train. These exterminators of the innocent represent a billion dollar crime ring dedicated to selling human parts and they can buy a trainload of judges. This is an Orwellian nightmare that even George Orwell never imagined.
The “weakest link?” Lawyers run all branches of government to their own advantage. De facto conflict of interest at the least.
So, Orrick bought his job with other people’s money. A true DemocRAT.
Bingo...I totally agree. Give it even more press coverage.
Completely agree! Use their own tactics against them!
Is there a go fund me page setup to help pay the "fine?" I'd like to donate what I can.
These tyrants in black robes disgust me.
Judge William Orrick is a traitor to the United States of America.
The Center for Medical Progress, Daleiden’s group, said his attorneys are being persecuted “just for trying to use the same video evidence in his defense that the California AG is using in his prosecution.”
In a statement, Daleiden’s group continued: “The [California] State prosecution is such a bad case, Planned Parenthood and NAF want Judge Orrick to intervene in the middle of this separate (and bogus) state criminal prosecution to put his thumb on the scales and forbid David from getting a fair trial.
People of AZ Jeff Flake helped this guy get in. Flake is as bad as McCain and is up in 18, dump him in the primary.
The truth must not be exposed.
Some things are worth going to jail over.
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