Posted on 01/26/2016 10:17:36 AM PST by Faith Presses On
(snip)
Initially, the grand jury set out to investigate Planned Parenthood. But on Monday, it instead returned charges against Daleiden. Harris County prosecutors declined to explain the charges. But Josh Schaffer, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood in Houston, says this is what it all means:
***
The fake IDs used by Daleiden and Merritt, which look like California licenses, triggered the felony charge, Schaffer said.
The IDs appeared in Harris County court documents. Daleiden went by Robert Sarkis.
***
“They presented those to security at the Planned Parenthood office to gain access to the facility for the meeting they’d scheduled with the intent to defraud or harm Planned Parenthood,†he said. “They secretly videotaped meetings and edited the tapes to be taken out of context.â€
Intent to cause harm is what elevated the possession of fake IDs to a more serious felony charge than, say, a 16-year-old trying to buy a six-pack would receive, Schaffer said. Under Texas law, the charge carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Does Cruz still have a Texas law license? He should jump in and defend them pro bono. That would turbocharge his campaign.
The key here is Lauren Reeder. She’s in the prosecuting attorney’s office AND also on the board of directors for Harris County Planned Parenthood.
Talk about your conflict of interest!!!
Fake ID for illegals and Moose, Good
Fake ID by Americans doing the same thing as 60Min, BAD
I guess investigative reporting/whistleblowing is now classified as “intent to cause harm”.
They exposed what was going on at Planned Parenthood, so that we could see it for ourselves and what these people do and what they’re like, and I’m forever thankful for that.
Amazing how illegal immigrants have an industry to make fake driver’s licenses, and as the New York Times admits, most work under stolen/false Social Security numbers, but I believe even the SC has ruled they can’t be prosecuted for using them since it is presumed they do so without knowledge that it’s a crime.
Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse, except when it serves secular humanists. See Hillary Clinton.
And how do undercover liberal journalists get access to places that are hard to get into?
THIS SHOULD BE SHOUTED TO THE ROOFTOPS!
This sets a precedent that journalists can be charged as criminals if they go undercover.
Yet not a peep of protest from the MSM...
If the prosecutor is trying to use the state law on fake IDs....IF the person is under 21, and intent on showing an older age....it’s a Class C misdemeanor, punishable up to a $500 fine.
If this was a fake identity thing....it’s a Class A misdemeanor with a $2,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail.
If the best they can do is talk fake ID....their case is pretty screwed up. Then trying to use this fake ID state law on something that has nothing to do with alcohol consumption or bad-check writing (it’s intention) will draw a judge to just start laughing.
Please do this right now, and pass it on to as many people as you can. This petition is sponsored by LIfeNews.com and it is legit.
This will backfire on these baby KILLERS.
Because it will only be used against the right, they think.
Baloney....the intent was to get the TRUTH.
How can they prove that the videos were edited? I don’t understand why they would even need to edit it.
The left seems to feel it can confidently slam that Pandora’s box shut again... what, it isn’t “harm” to pass as legal that way? Are we in Cloud Cuckoo Land now?
A bunch of liars was lied to in order to find out the truth... is that even WRONG?
Until we fear God again, we are going to die of quixotic-ness.
Yeah, throw us into that briar patch. Show us the WHOLE THING.
In reviewing the Texas Penal Code applicable to this set of circumstances, the only sub-section that appears to be remotely relevant is Sec. 37.10 (a)(2): “(a) A person commits an offense if he: makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that it be taken as a genuine governmental record.”
The statute allows for an affirmative defense to this sub-section as follows: “(f) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1), (a)(2), or (a)(5) that the false entry or false information could have no effect on the government’s purpose for requiring the governmental record.”
So, in essence, if there is no effect on the government’s purpose for requiring a driver’s license to gain access to a private entity, then this charge is bogus.
There is a much better argument for charging a college student with a felony for using a false ID to gain access to a bar to drink a beer. At least there the government has an interest in requiring a license as identification.
Here? not so much.
It’s an entirely bogus accusation that could be leveled at anyone doing any sort of video documenting or news gathering.
Everything on TV is edited.
And that’s all they did - normal editing.
I believe, too, in the case in Houston, they forgot to immediately turn on the camera again after turning it off for a little bit when they weren’t with the PP officials. After the video stopping because the CMP investigators say they’re going to go someplace for a short while, the video jumps or starts up again abruptly in the middle of a conversation with PP officials while they’re examining the remains of aborted babies. The gap obviously means nothing, and no reason for why it would mean anything has ever been given, yet I’ve seen that latched onto.
The left base will seize on any argument, defense-attorney-defending-a-guilty-client style, because they have no integrity, believe what’s in their mind is objective reality, and that they have the right to run a “benevolent dictatorship.”
I debate things with leftists sometimes, and the vast majority won’t discuss things with any honesty.
We have to give up thinking that we can debate them honestly, at least this point in time.
They simply throw every logical fallacy that’s out there into discussions to obstruct the process of getting to the truth.
Nice find! No surprise that this boils down to intimidation by prosecution.
I think it is past time for petitions.
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