The hearings on whether to dismiss charges against Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller have been a painful reminder of how dysfunctional the Kansas Attorney General’s Office used to be. Testimony has shown how the office of crusading former Attorney General Phill Kline mishandled abortion records and may have misled a judge into obtaining those records. This week’s hearings put a humiliating spotlight on the adulterous affair of Kline’s replacement, former Attorney General Paul Morrison, and whether his lover, who worked for Kline and opposes abortion, pressured Morrison into filing charges. “Palace Intrigue on the Prairie” is how a Tiller attorney titled this soap opera. In comparison, current Attorney General Steve Six is boring. Actually, he’s rather boring compared with nearly anyone. And that’s a nice change.
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12 Comments
Yes boring and not future governor material.
Soap opera and expensive trial in order to run a witch hunt which waste tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars during a time of economic recession. Tiller probably brings in more tourist dollars than Bill Warren’s Old Town Theater.
“Tiller probably brings in more tourist dollars than Bill Warren’s Old Town Theater”
Wow..that’s a sad thought.
All this distraction from the charge that Tiller’s broken the law..too bad Phil Kline made such a mess of things and ended up looking like a fool.
Well I think it’s the judical system that looks like fools, to let a trail go in that direction. Tiller was charged with criminal acts, his lawyers need to stay with the issue instead of trying to make this into a soap opera. Kline, Morrison, and Carter are not the ones on trail, Tiller is. Now lets prove his innocents…………or his guilt!!! If Clark Owens dismisses this trail, that would be the wrong thing to do, lets prove Tiller’s innocents or his guilt. If there are certain rules Tiller needs to follow, they should be followed, if he did, not problem, if he is not…………then he needs to be held accountable. Quit trying to go after the other people, TILLER is the one on trail.
“If there are certain rules Tiller needs to follow, they should be followed”
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There are certain rules Kline should have followed too, that’s what is being decided right now. If Kline had followed the rules, would Tiller have been charged?
If our boring AG Six conducts himself as the state’s top law enforcement officer should, there will be few times of controversy, and those shouldn’t be whether he followed the law and earned his (tax dollar) pay.
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Maggotpunk
Posted January 9, 2009 at 6:09 am | Permalink
Soap opera and expensive trial in order to run a witch hunt which waste tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars during a time of economic recession. Tiller probably brings in more tourist dollars than Bill Warren’s Old Town Theater.
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Are you still giving those burn ovens tours Doug?
All of that may be true.
But keep in mind this proceeding isn’t about the conduct of the previous AGs. It’s about the charges against Tiller.
Kline’s motives in bringing the prosecution in the first place, whether driven by personal ideology or not, or Morrison’s motives in continuing it, are irrelevent to whether Tiller is in fact guilty of the charges. The “Palace Intrigue on the Prairie” show is simply a defense attorney’s tactic; a sideshow, designed to distract attention from Tiller and what he is alleged to have done.
Unless evidence is obtained illegally (and I’ve seen no evidence of that, though I’ve frankly not paid attention to every detail); it’s admissible. The media pays attention to the soap opera because it makes a good story and drives readership. But it’s a sideshow; a distraction, not the issue at bar.
If, in fact, Tiller arranged a “rubberstamp” for his late term abortion business in violation of statute, and if same is provable by admissible evidence, the prosecution should go forward. That some find the prosecution distasteful because they dislike the motives of the former prosecutors is beside the point.
GMC70, I fully expect the usual outcome of justice for some.
CONs refuse to understand the abuse of power that comes from a prosecutor who targets a “criminal” and then seeks to find a crime somewhere.
It’s the classic “ends justify the means” mind-set.
Yeah, RICO got John Gotti in the pokey for life and it probably was a good outcome for society in general. But to get there Giuliani, et al, had to retro-fit a lot of lesser crimes into a greatly-expanded definition of “conspiracy.”
Before RICO, if I go out and murder someone I’m culpable for the crime. Post-RICO, if I tell you I’m thinking about murdering someone — and even if you talk me out of it — we both could be charged with “conspiracy” to commit murder.
Kline most certainly abused the powers of his office to fuel his personal vendetta against Tiller.
GMC - isn’t there a ‘fruit of the poisoned tree’ rule in Court about evidence? If so, might Kline et.al. lose all their evidence due to misconduct?
Ben -
Yup; “fruit of the poisonous tree” is essentially the exclusionary rule (Wong Sun v. US, I think); if the State’s evidence was obtained illegally, it should be inadmissible. But there is a distinction between Kline’s alleged misconduct and illegal evidence; one does not necessary require the other. The question is whether the evidence was illegally obtained. And Kline’s motives, however politically or ideologically driven, are utterly irrelevent.
MH - I tend to agree with you that RICO has been twisted and stretched far beyond its intended purpose. However, you got it exactly backwards. RICO’s application against organizations OTHER than organized crime is the source of that stretching; its use against folks like John Gotti is exactly what was intended.
Your definition of “conspiracy” bears no relationship to reality at all, however.
If, purely hypothetically, you tell me of your plans to kill JR, you have not made me part of any conspiracy, even if I do nothing to prevent your act, as I am under no legal obligation to stop you, or even report your impending crime. And talking you out of it most certainly does NOT make me part of any conspiracy (though in JR’s case, why would I talk you out of it?). However, if I join in the planning, and we take some action to go down the road of carrying it out, the conspiracy is complete. (yes, that’s a joke, JR; please try and keep your panties out of your ass).
Conspiracy requires both planning of the offense between two or more persons, AND an overt act in furtherance; in other words, planning alone will not support a conspiracy conviction. It requires an ACT to further the ends of the conspirachy, though it does not require the goal be accomplished.
In other words, as is often the case, your got it just about exactly backwards.
In the end, MH, your assertion that “Kline most certainly abused the powers of his office to fuel his personal vendetta against Tiller” may well be correct. But if the evidence was legally obtained, and Tiller did in fact get a “rubberstamp” second opinion in violation of statute, as a matter of law Kline’s motives make no difference.