HOUSTON — Texas prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the last remaining charges against two California anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood, agreeing with the defense’s argument that the grand jury exceeded its authority by investigating the activists after clearing Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing.
District Judge Brock Thomas dismissed the tampering with government records charges against David Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 63, at the request of the Harris County prosecutor’s office.
“The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it, however Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury extension order is issued,” District Attorney Devon Anderson said. “In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments.”
Anderson, a Republican who ran as a “proud, pro-life Texan mother of two” during the 2014 election, supported the charges when they were handed down in January, stressing at the time that at the outset of the investigation, she stated that “we must go where the evidence leads us.” That didn’t sit well with many members of her party.
Defense attorneys said the activists never should have been charged. And Merritt and Daleiden, who founded a group called the Center for Medical Progress, had rejected plea deals offering them probation.
“I’m glad the First Amendment rights of all citizen journalists have been vindicated today,” Daleiden said after the hearing. “And I would just note that Planned Parenthood is still under investigation by the United States Congress, as they should be, because they are the real criminals in this matter.”
Prosecutors alleged that Daleiden, from Davis, Calif., and Merritt, from San Jose, Calif., used fake driver’s licenses to conceal their identities from Planned Parenthood during the 30-month undercover operation. They said the two posed as representatives of a biomedical company and sought to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sold parts of aborted fetuses to researchers.
Texas authorities initially began a grand jury investigation of Planned Parenthood after the undercover videos were released last August. But the grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of misusing fetal tissue and instead indicted Merritt and Daleiden, who said he was working undercover as a journalist to expose illegalities in the handling of fetal tissue.
