Bear Growls: Junk Charges

Our bruin friend at Saint Corbinian’s Bear brings us this news on the latest twist in the Harris County indictments of the two pro-life undercover investigators:

As predicted by the Bear, prosecutors in Texas have offered undercover videographer Sandra Merritt pre-trial diversion that could make the charge go away entirely if she behaves herself.

Two things surprise the Bear, though. First, one might say the mountain labored and brought forth a mouse. No time behind bars? Not even a conviction? Remember, this a supposedly a 20 years in prison case. They must really not want to get this anywhere near trial. Second, it is extremely unusual to present a felony defendant with a plea bargain the first time the defendant is in court! The defense has not had time to review discovery, subpoena materials (maybe), and assess the evidence.

On second thought, maybe not so strange after all.

It sounds like an offer she can’t refuse. Once you go to trial, anything can happen. The Bear was always very conservative. It appears the State of Texas has accomplished whatever it wanted to accomplish and is ready to wash its hands of the sorry mess.

David Daleiden is set to turn himself in Thursday. We’ll see if he gets the same offer. It would be unusual to treat two co-defendants who are similarly situated differently.

Go here to read the comments.  What is going on now is that sane elements in the Harris County prosecutor’s office realize that these are junk charges that probably would not survive a motion to dismiss, if not by the trial judge, certainly by the appellate court on interlocutory appeal, and hence this unbelievable deal where a 20 year felony vanishes into thin air.  The pro-aborts in the prosecutor’s office who engineered these ridiculous indictments already got what they wanted:  national publicity for a giant slap in the face to the pro-life movement.  If I were the attorney for the defendants, assuming they are both offered the deal, I would probably counsel them to take it, since this constitutes the prosecutors saying “Never mind!” and retreating with their tails between their legs, and a 20 year felony is too potentially disastrous to accept even the slight risk going forward.  However, part of me hopes they toss the offer back in the face of the prosecutors and humiliate them in court.  Then I hope they bring a civil suit to learn the behind the scenes machinations that led to the charges.  Prosecutorial immunity can be pierced if their misconduct is severe enough, and this case, if access can be gained to the internal e-mails of the prosecutors, might fit the bill.  If individual prosecutors are facing potential bankruptcy, perhaps even jail time, someone will crack and come forward to rat out the others in what was clearly a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The above video at the top of this post, just released by the Center for Medical Progress, indicates what the prosecutors in Harris County had to overlook as they guided their grand jury to indict those who uncovered this ghoulish trade by Planned Parenthood.

Update: 

David Daleiden received the offer and rejected it. It’s a fight!