Courtroom drama resumes today in Kansas v. Tiller

Jan. 6, 20095:00 a.m.

A former Kansas attorney general who crusaded against abortion, his successor and the successor’s former lover are all scheduled to take the stand in a Wichita courtroom this week.

Sound like a political soap opera? No, it’s just the latest hearing in the case of Kansas v. George Tiller, the Wichita abortion doctor.

You can follow live updates from the courtroom, via Twitter, by refreshing the box to the left of this blog, or going here.

Phill Kline, who as AG began investigating Tiller in 2003, began testifying in November but had to postpone his testimony because of conflicts in travel plans. He is set to retake the stand today.

Kline’s successor as AG, Paul Morrison, is also scheduled to testify this week, as is Linda Carter, whose extramarital affair caused Morrison to resign. Carter also worked for Kline, who assumed Morrison’s old role as Johnson County district attorney.

Tiller’s lawyer, Dan Monnat, is arguing that Kline overstepped the bounds of his authority in investigating Tiller, including by enlisting Carter’s help in getting Morrison to file charges.

Tiller faces 19 misdemeanor charges alleging that he had an improper financial relationship with a doctor who provided second opinions for women seeking late-term abortions.

The case is now being pursued by current Attorney General Steve Six, through prosecutor Barry Disney.

By Ron Sylvester | Tagged as , , , , \n | Comments Off | Share this post

Kline opinion, lawsuit, cost Kansas taxpayers $475,000

Aug. 6, 200812:06 p.m.

A 2003 Kansas Attorney General opinion by Phill Kline and the ensuing lawsuit to defend how health care providers reported sexual activity among teenagers cost Kansas taxpayers $475,000 in court costs and attorneys fees, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.

Kline

Kline

The final legal tab was settled last week between the Center for Reproductive Rights, which sued Kline, and the office of current Attorney General Stephen Six. The organization in 2006 won a restraining order in federal court against Kline and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston over the way health care providers report sexual activity of teenagers.

“When someone like Phill Kline does something like this just to grandstand, the taxpayers have to fund that,” said Bonnie Scott Jones, one of the lawyers that brought the suit on behalf of health care workers in Kansas. “And they’re funding grandstanding on something that was clearly unconstitutional.”

Kline targeted abortion clinics in his opinion, issued just months after he took office.

The opinion broadly interpreted a Kansas law that required health care providers, teachers, counselors and others who work with young people to report any case where there’s “reason to suspect that a child has been injured” as a result of sexual abuse. Kline said abortion clinics must report any girl under 16 who showed up for services. A young girl’s pregnancy, he said, was evidence of a sex crime. He went on to say that requirement would extend to other illegal sexual contact. In Kansas, that includes almost any intimate activity involving teens under the age of 16.

Health care providers from the Wichita and Kansas City areas sued, claiming that such a broad interpretation of the law – and the strict reporting requirements – would drive teens away from their offices, preventing them from seeking birth control and treatment for diseases.

The case garnered national attention and was nicknamed “the kiss and tell case” by the media.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten agreed that health care providers should be granted discretion in what they report, protecting the privacy of the teens. Legislators last year amended the law to reflect Marten’s ruling.

Kline lost his re-election bid for AG in 2006. On Tuesday, he lost the Republican primary in his attempt to be re-elected as Johnson County District Attorney.

By Ron Sylvester | Tagged as , , , \n | Comments (7) | Share this post

Will Kline have to testify in Tiller case?

July 30, 20089:23 a.m.

Judges and former attorney generals may be receiving subpoenas for a week-long hearing in November to suppress evidence in a misdemeanor criminal case.

That’s not surprising, when that case involves Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

Dan Monnat, who represents Tiller, said those witnesses — including Phill Kline — could be on the witness list for the hearing set the week before Thanksgiving. Monnat said he plans to file a motion to suppress the abortion records from Tiller’s clinic that Kline began pursuing the year he took office. Kline began his probe in a secret investigation before a Topeka judge. It took Kline nearly his full term to get the records, which he received in October 2006, right before he was defeated by Paul Morrison.

Morrison could also be on the witness list. He filed the current charges last summer before having to leave office amid a sex scandal.

Monnat said he hopes to challenge how Kline got the records, which Morrison used to file charges.

Tiller is charged with 19 misdemeanors stemming from how he got second opinions from another doctor, which are required to perform some late-term abortions. Tiller is set for trial in March 2009.

By Ron Sylvester | Tagged as , , \n | Comments Off | Share this post