FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA AGREES TO END UNPRECEDENTED PROSECUTION OF CMP’s UNDERCOVER VIDEO REPORTING
Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27—Today, the State of California reached an agreement with CMP founder and president David Daleiden and CMP undercover reporter Sandra Merritt to totally dismiss the the unprecedented video recording prosecution first launched by then-Attorney General Kamala Harris.
The agreement—a negotiated settlement with zero punishment—is in exchange for a new “no contest” plea by Daleiden and Merritt on a single video recording charge. It involves no jail time, no fines, no admission of wrongdoing, and no probation. The new “no contest” plea—which cannot be used adversely—will be entered into judgment as a misdemeanor in 6 to 12 months, and then converted to a “not guilty” plea, dismissed, and expunged.
7 of the 14 video recording charges initially brought in this case were dismissed halfway through as unsupported by probable cause. Other litigation continues about the constitutionality of antiquated state video recording laws like California’s.
“In my 5 decades as an attorney, 40 years of which were as a prosecutor, I have never seen such a blatant exercise of selective investigation and vindictive prosecution. The California Attorneys General who initiated this case and pursued it for nearly 10 years should be ashamed for weaponizing their office to pursue people who were merely exposing illegality associated with the harvesting and sale of fetal body parts,” states Hon. Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County District Attorney, 2000-2012, who led Daleiden’s legal defense team throughout the high-stakes case.
“After enduring 9 years of weaponized political prosecution, putting an end to the lawfare launched by Kamala Harris is a huge victory for my investigative reporting and for the public’s right to know the truth about Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby body parts. Now we all must get to work to protect families and infants from the criminal abortion-industrial complex,” states Daleiden. “Taking the San Francisco case off the board allows me to focus fully on CMP’s mission to report on the injustices of taxpayer-funded experiments on aborted babies and continue to expand our groundbreaking investigative reporting.”
CMP’s undercover reporting at issue in the case led to a $7.8 million settlement in which two companies admitted illegally selling aborted fetuses from Planned Parenthood in southern California, a settlement with disgorgement of profits from the sale of aborted fetal organs in Arizona, and the disqualification of Planned Parenthood from state and federal funding in Texas for violations of medical standards and ethics documented on the undercover footage—where Planned Parenthood now faces a nearly $2 billion federal False Claims Act case from the disqualification.
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To learn more about CMP’s investigative reporting, visit www.centerformedicalprogress.org
