{"id":276854,"date":"2022-09-29T14:42:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T19:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=276854"},"modified":"2022-09-28T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T17:10:33","slug":"criminal-jury-trial-pro-life-journalists-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/criminal-jury-trial-pro-life-journalists-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminal jury trial in case against pro-life journalists likely in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Liberty Counsel<\/a>)\u00a0Judge Christopher Hite of the Superior Court of San Francisco County held a status conference today regarding Liberty Counsel\u2019s request for an evidentiary hearing to further review the bias nature of former Attorney General Xavier Becerra\u2019s felony charges brought against Sandra Merritt. Liberty Counsel represents Merritt, who along with David Daleiden, founder and president of The Center for Medical Progress, are facing criminal charges for their undercover journalism exposing Planned Parenthood\u2019s trafficking in baby body parts.<\/p>\n

Judge Hite set another status conference for November 3, when he will schedule a date for the jury trial.<\/p>\n

The undercover videos, some of which were recorded at the National Abortion Federation\u2019s (NAF) 2014 and 2015 abortion convention and trade shows, exposed Planned Parenthood\u2019s illegal involvement in harvesting and selling aborted baby body parts to companies such as StemExpress. The recordings capture Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the prices of baby body parts, picking through bloodied arms and legs of aborted babies in a pie tray, and discussing how to alter abortion methods to obtain better body parts for sale.<\/p>\n

To date, no other citizen journalist or journalism organization has ever been charged with a crime for undercover recordings made in the public interest. In fact, Merritt and Daleiden are the first undercover journalists to be criminally prosecuted in California\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Merritt and Daleiden are being prosecuted under California Penal Code section 632, subdivision (a) regarding the recording of confidential communication\u2014a charge that is unprecedented for citizen journalists. The attorney general of California seeks to prosecute without having to prove specific intent. However, the California Supreme Court previously held in People v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County<\/i> (1969) that specific intent is<\/i> an essential element of the crime of recording a confidential communication. And in the case of alleged specific intent crimes, defendants have a right to raise a defense of mistake of law. Thus, the pretrial ruling that bars testimonial evidence of Merritt and Daleiden\u2019s specific intent prejudices them at trial by depriving them of a large part of their defense.<\/p>\n