{"id":222883,"date":"2020-05-02T09:20:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T14:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=222883"},"modified":"2020-05-01T15:43:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T20:43:07","slug":"final-judgement-pro-life-investigators-attorneys-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/final-judgement-pro-life-investigators-attorneys-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Final judgment issued against pro-life investigators, attorneys plan to appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Life Legal<\/a>)\u00a0A federal judge issued a final judgment in Planned Parenthood v. Center for Medical Progress\u00a0<\/em>(CMP) on Thursday. The abortion giant sued CMP in January 2016 after CMP published a series of videos showing PP directors negotiating the sale of baby body parts for profit in violation of state and federal laws. Planned Parenthood sought millions of dollars in compensation for security upgrades after CMP investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were able to easily gain entrance to abortion industry conferences and other meetings. Daleiden and Merritt were named in the lawsuit, as were CMP founding board members Albin Rhomberg and Troy Newman.<\/p>\n

The case went to trial last fall. Jurors heard six weeks of testimony, but were not permitted to watch footage of the videos that are the subject of the lawsuit.<\/strong>\u00a0The jury awarded $2 million in damages to Planned Parenthood, including $870,000 in punitive damages for violating federal racketeering (RICO) laws enacted to eliminate organized crime and drug cartels. This is not the first time the abortion lobby has attempted to paint pro-lifers as racketeers. Joe Scheidler, often called the father of the pro-life movement, was sued by the National Organization for Women under RICO. NOW won the initial round, but Scheidler ultimately prevailed<\/a> after the Supreme Court dismissed the case.\u00a0[emphasis added by Live Action News<\/em>]<\/p>\n