AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Latest on the indictment of two anti-abortion activists who made an undercover video of Planned Parenthood (all times local):
3:35 p.m.
An attorney for Planned Parenthood says prosecutors in Houston told him that a grand jury never voted on possible criminal charges against the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Josh Schaffer said Tuesday that no one from Planned Parenthood testified to the grand jury that cleared a Houston clinic of wrongdoing. The panel instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos that accused Planned Parenthood of illegally selling fetal tissue for profit.
David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt are accused of using fake California driver’s licenses to infiltrate the clinic. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs.
Schaffer says Planned Parenthood officials did speak to law enforcement but didn’t know if those interviews were ever considered by the grand jury.
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1:55 p.m.
An attorney representing one of the indicted anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos about Planned Parenthood says the two plan to voluntarily turn themselves in to Texas authorities.
Murphy Klasing says David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who live in California, plan to come to Houston’s Harris County Jail, where they will be processed and allowed to post bond.
The attorney, who represents Daleiden, says he doesn’t know when that will happen.
Both activists face a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs.
Daleiden’s attorney says he plans to plead not guilty to the charges.
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10:30 a.m.
Two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos about Planned Parenthood are accused of using fake driver’s licenses to infiltrate the group.
Indictments made public Tuesday allege that David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt each used California driver’s licenses they knew were false “with the intent to defraud and harm another.”
Both of them face a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs.
The videos alleged that Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue to researchers for profit.
The Houston grand jury that indicted the two also investigated Planned Parenthood but concluded that the abortion provider committed no wrongdoing.
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