The more I dig into the background of Devon Anderson, the Harris Country prosecutor, the more red flags I see:
Anderson’s announcement this week was surprising. Not only do grand juries rarely turn the tables on those making the criminal accusations, but Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged Anderson to investigate based on footage that accused a Houston clinic of illegally selling fetal tissue for profit.
When Anderson was up for election in 2014, she ran as “proud, pro-life Texan mother of two” and was backed by the wealthy GOP elite. But the case against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, anti-abortion activists who live in California, is now perhaps Anderson’s most visible case since she first took office in 2013.
It also has a somewhat familiar ring to it.
Anderson was barely three months into office when the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue accused a Houston doctor of performing late-term abortions. The activist behind those allegations, Troy Newman, was also a founding member of the Center for Medical Progress – the anti-abortion group headed by Daleiden, whose videos set off investigations by Congress and Republican efforts to cut off Planned Parenthood funding.
Operation Rescue had released disturbing photos and accusations from the former staff of Dr. Douglas Karpen. A grand jury declined to indict Karpen; the abortion provider’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, said Karpen was smeared by doctored pictures and false allegations made by individuals who were paid by Operation Rescue.
Lewis, a longtime political donor in Houston whose beneficiaries include Anderson, said he helped soften the political fallout for her in Republican circles.
“I told them, ‘Don’t hitch your wagon to this. They’re crooks, and it’s going to be exposed,'” Lewis said, referring to Operation Rescue.
Kansas-based Operation Rescue has denied paying informants and had questioned the evidence seen by the grand jury. Anderson’s handling of both cases is also questioned by Texas Right to Life, a prominent anti-abortion group that endorsed the district attorney in 2014.
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Lewis said the assistant prosecutor who oversaw the Karpen investigation also handled the Planned Parenthood case. “I don’t think she forgot what she uncovered,” Lewis said. A spokesman for Anderson, Jeff McShan, said he could not confirm whether the same assistant prosecutor handled both investigations.
Planned Parenthood attorney Josh Schaffer said a prosecutor told him the grand jury never even voted on possible criminal charges against the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Go here to read the rest. Interesting that the assistant prosecutor who was “unable” to get an indictment against abortionist Douglas Karpen was picked by Devon Anderson to head the grand jury on the Planned Parenthood case. Interesting also the fact that the Planned Parenthood attorney states that he was told that potential criminal charges against Planned Parenthood were never voted on by the grand jury. The fix was in on this one from the get go.
It’s always follow the money. Can there be a recall or an impeachment for a DA in Texas?
I listened with shock to a hour plus long talk from a converted nurse that once worked for the Houston PP aboritorium. What an eye-opener to the pits of Hades we are protecting and funding in America.
Don, would you mind taking a look at my story? I just need another lawyer to make sure I don’t say something stupid. (In court there was always one, but by the time he had his say it was too late.)
Basically, I say they drop the misdemeanor body part charges to, which is total BS with no upside to prosecution, to insulate PP and proceed on the felony. But wait! There are specific parts of the Texas Transport Code that cover license offenses. I would argue that the State must proceed on the appropriate license offense drafted by the legislature, not on some general government documents offense.
Can you imagine the reelection prospects of a DA sending 19 year old college kids with fke IDs off to prison for 20 years? Puts it in perspective just how awful this is.
“Can you imagine the reelection prospects of a DA sending 19 year old college kids with fke IDs off to prison for 20 years? Puts it in perspective just how awful this is.”
The message is clear, regardless where they take this thing. Don’t mess with our money making power machine over silly things like murdering babies in the womb, or you’ll pay dearly. In the old Soviet Union, these same offenders of the almighty state would have been facing lobotomies or something as evil..
“Don, would you mind taking a look at my story?”
Good analysis my bruin friend. I think spite is the best explanation for the charges, which seem like very weak tea to me, but have made quite a splash nationally in the news which may have been the point. The alteration of the driver’s license is I think under section 37.10 (6)(d)(3) of the Texas penal code:
(d) An offense under this section, if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the governmental record is described by Section 37.02(2)(D), is:
(1) a Class B misdemeanor if the offense is committed under Subsection (a)(2) or Subsection (a)(5) and the defendant is convicted of presenting or using the record;
(2) a felony of the third degree if the offense is committed under:
(A) Subsection (a)(1), (3), (4), or (6); or
(B) Subsection (a)(2) or (5) and the defendant is convicted of making the record; and
(3) a felony of the second degree, notwithstanding Subdivisions (1) and (2), if the actor’s intent in committing the offense was to defraud or harm another.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.37.htm
Note that the state will have to prove that the licenses either defrauded or harmed Planned Parenthood. This is a bizarre charge and obviously brought to simply bring a felony into play in the case.
Thanks, Don. That title just doesn’t seem to fit this, whereas there are specific statutes for drivers licenses in the Transportation Code. It seems like the title you cite has more to do with altering court records, school records, etc. Is that the statute they charged? Now “harm” is interesting because the only “harm” that could be alleged is harm to their reputation. A clever and determined defense counsel could have a field day with that, and it would open discovery and subpoena power for the defense against PP. I’m sure there’s case law on all this, Don. Why don’t you research it and memo it all out for us 😉 Seriously, congratulations. You have done the best work on this item.
I’ve said for years that the part of the story Hans Christian Andersen left out was where the Emperor had every citizen of the capital blinded and their tongues torn out. Which is why, even to this day, people still talk about the Emperor whose new clothes so bedazzled the people that they lost all power of sight and speech, such was the magnificence of his finery.
I agree w/ Bear.
Thanks for your insights and experience.
Harm done to PP? It’s so bizarre and sickening. This is about the ripping apart of tiny babies and selling their parts…but wait.
It’s about the poor dismantlers….the harm done to them. As mentioned before, Cam, follow the $. So true CAM. Money and protection for the abortion pimps.
Sick times indeed.
And the whole of Heaven weeps along with Jesus.
Given the legal discourse we’ve read on this site, it could just be that Ms, Devon Anderson has stepped in a Texas size cow pie.
So why was Chip Lewis, the pro-abortion attorney, a donor of supposedly pro-life Devon Anderson back in 2013 / 2014? Pro-abortionists are generally Democrats and do not typically support pro-life Republicans. None of this makes any sense to me.