Did Planned Parenthood lawyer admit to colluding with Houston DA?

HOUSTON—During its grand jury investigation of abortion giant Planned Parenthood, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office “illegally shared evidence with Planned Parenthood,” according to attorneys for pro-life activist David Daleiden. The new information fuels the attorneys’ motion to quash all indictments against their client.

The release last year of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) officials allegedly offering to sell body parts from aborted babies for profit prompted an investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who called on Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson to do the same. But instead of uncovering criminal activity by PPGC, a grand jury in January handed down indictments against Daleiden and co-defendant Sandra Merritt, who conducted the undercover operation. Pro-life advocates who anticipated an indictment against Planned Parenthood were stunned by the turn of events and accused the DA’s office of conspiring with the abortion provider to thwart the investigation.

Peter Breen, special counsel with the Thomas More Society (TMS), which is defending Daleiden, believes the latest evidence drawn from a sworn declaration confirms suspicions of collusion between the district attorney’s office and Planned Parenthood officials.

“This prosecutor was gunning for David Daleiden,” Breen told me. “It’s not permissible to release confidential grand jury documents to a third party.”

Anderson would not comment on the allegations.

Evidence of the misconduct came from the sworn statement of PPGC attorney Josh Schaffer. He gave the statement as part of the district attorney’s response to Breen’s motion to quash all three of Daleiden’s indictments.

In his statement, Schaffer implicated Assistant District Attorney Sunni Mitchell in the release of hours-long raw footage shot by Daleiden and Merritt of Houston Planned Parenthood employees within the facility and at other meetings. Daleiden and Merritt posed as medical research company representatives interested in purchasing fetal remains so that they could investigate accusations the abortion industry leader was illegally selling baby body parts.

Over a three-year period, Daleiden recorded undercover video in Planned Parenthood abortion facilities and at medical conferences across the country. His organization, the Center for Medical Progress, publicly released edited videos of those encounters as evidence the abortion provider profited from the sale of fetal remains, a federal crime.

According to Breen, Mitchell gave the raw footage to Schaffer.

“I was told that the Attorney General’s office agreed to give [the raw footage] to the Harris County District Attorney’s office on the condition that they not give it to Planned Parenthood,” Schaffer said in his sworn statement. “Mitchell told me that she would try to obtain the footage by other means.”

Breen said the evidence indicates the DA’s office did not restrict its efforts to deflect the Planned Parenthood investigation at the local level.

“These filings also include evidence that appears to show that the DA’s office worked with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to undermine the Texas Attorney General’s independent investigation of that abortion provider,” Breen said in the press release. “The conduct of Harris County prosecutors in this case is outrageous and illegal.”

The next pretrial conference hearing in the motion to quash Daleiden’s indictments is set for July 26 in Harris County District Court.