The Thomas More Society has announced via email that prosecutors in Harris County, Texas, dropped the remaining felony charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, the Center for Medical Progress undercover investigators responsible for exposing Planned Parenthood’s scandal over the sale of aborted baby parts.
Advertisement
Daleiden and Merrit were both charged with tampering with a governmental record for allegedly creating the fake IDs.
Daleiden and Merritt still faced a felony charge for using fake identification, an offense that potentially carried a 20-year prison sentence.
Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 62, both of Davis, Calif., were indicted by a Harris County grand jury in January, accused of tampering with a government record for allegedly using fake driver licenses to hide their identities while dealing with a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic.
“In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments”, Anderson said.
The video footage showed the two posing as representatives of a company called BioMax seeking to purchase fetal tissue for research.
State health officials have cited the videos as reason enough to kick Planned Parenthood out of the joint state-federal Medicaid program, something the feds have insisted Texas can not legally do.
Prosecutors alleged that Daleiden and Merritt used fake driver’s licenses to hide their identities while dealing with Planned Parenthood.
The Texas investigation based on the allegations from Daleiden’s group ended in a twist as a grand jury in January cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing but instead indicted video makers Daleiden and Merritt.
Advertisement
Planned Parenthood has denied Daleiden’s allegations and sued in federal court, arguing that the people who recorded the videos acted illegally. “Planned Parenthood did wrong here, not David Daleiden”. Planned Parenthood said it refused to sell fetal organs for the offered price of $1,600.
