Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson is coming under fire after her office pursued a grand jury indictment against the pro-life investigators who uncovered the sale of aborted baby body parts at a Houston Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
The Texas grand jury indicted David Daleiden and another pro-life activist, Sandra Merritt, behind the videos. Instead of prosecuting Planned Parenthood for selling aborted baby parts, Daleiden was indicted for buying them.
Daleiden and Merritt were charged with one felony related to tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to buying human tissue. The felony charge was in reference to the use of a fake ID. If convicted, Daleiden faces 20 years in prison while Planned Parenthood officials face no legal consequences for their actions.
SIGN THE PETITION: Drop the Charges Against David Daleiden and Charge Planned Parenthood
At the same time, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson (pictured) announced that Harris County’s investigation into the criminal conduct at Houston’s Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has ended. Anderson said that the case is closed and that she has no further recourse.
The pro-life group Operation Rescue informed LifeNews.com that a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s office serves on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood. Lauren Reeder is a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s criminal family law division. Reeder is listed as a non-compensated “Director” on the 990 Tax Form for 2014 filed by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Now, Operation Rescue is criticizing Anderson over her failure to prosecute an abortionist known as the Kermit Gosnell of Houston.
Anderson oversaw a previous abortion-related grand jury investigation of Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen after Operation Rescue released evidence in the form of photos and witness testimony that abortions babies were being born alive during abortions and intentionally killed by twisting their necks. This case garnered publicity in the wake of the conviction of Pennsylvania abortionist Kermit Gosnell on three counts of First Degree Murder for intentionally killing babies born alive during abortions in a similar fashion.
The pro-life group said that grand jury failed to return a “true bill” that would have led to Karpen’s prosecution. Operation Rescue has reason to believe that the grand jury did not have access to all the evidence, and that Anderson’s close personal relationship with Karpen’s attorney, Chip Lewis, may have contributed to the failure of the grand jury to indict Karpen.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s just too way much smoke blowing Planned Parenthood’s way in Harris County for us to feel remotely comfortable that Anderson’s office can conduct a fair and impartial investigation,”the group said at the time.
Now that Anderson’s office has indicted the pro-life investigators, Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue is renewing the criticism.
“There is now a pattern in Houston of District Attorney Devon Anderson’s office covering up abortion-related crimes,” she told LifeNews.
“In 2013, another Anderson-controlled grand jury failed to indict Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen, who was accused by three of his former employees of murdering babies born alive during shoddy late-term abortions by twisting their heads or slashing their throats. Photographic evidence provided to me showed injuries to large aborted babies that was consistent with those claims. Operation Rescue has good reason to believe that evidence was never presented to that grand jury,” Sullenger explained.
