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Kansas Supreme Court Crushes Hopes for Justice in Case Against Former AG Phill Kline

Foreshadowed on Twitter 11 Months Prior, Life Legal Defense Foundation Appalled by Legal Travesty

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Oct. 18, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Kansas Supreme Court has handed down its decision in in the matter of Phillip D. Kline, the disciplinary action against former State Attorney General Phill Kline. In its decision issued today, the Court continued in its course of political pandering and decided against Mr. Kline, who was found to have been in violation of the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct.

"What began as a political lynching has ended with a further travesty of justice," says Dana Cody, President and Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "This case had nothing to do with the fair application of the Rules of Professional Conduct and everything to do with being politically correct on the issue of abortion. It is disappointing that the Kansas Supreme Court is more interested in political appeasement than the pursuit of justice."

The charges of professional misconduct sprang from Kline's investigation of several prominent abortion providers during his tenure as chief prosecutor at both the state and county levels.

As Cody sees it, this case represents business as usual in the abortion industry: "Pro-abortion forces are considered above the law -- including putting women and children in danger." She points to recent cases such as Dr. Kermit Gosnell's house of horrors, the dangerous clinics in Birmingham, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi, and the utter lack of care for safety in clinics from Texas, to Illinois, to Delaware. "This is the true nature of the abortion industry, and we desperately need more prosecutors with the courage to stand up and enforce the law," Cody says, and adds that "The person responsible for initiating the campaign of harassment against Mr. Kline is now in our nation's capital as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Shame on this Court and shame on Kathleen Sebelius."

Ironically, today's decision was foreshadowed when an irreverent legal clerk in the Kansas Supreme Court was tweeting inside information from the Kansas State Supreme Court courtroom during Kline's November 2012 hearing, implying that the "fix is in" in the case against Kline. Cody asks, "What can Phill Kline do now? Can you imagine having to go back before this court to reinstate your law license? At least today's decision was not announced by a law clerk's tweet." Copies of suspended court clerk Sarah Peterson Herr's tweets from the courtroom during Phill Kline's hearing have been posted here.

Today's decision from the Kansas Supreme Court is posted here.

Background on the case is available here.

Phill Kline earned national attention when, as Attorney General of Kansas, he investigated and charged abortion providers in his state for their failure to report suspected child sex abuse. Although his actions were closely scrutinized, and the existence of probable cause was confirmed at every step in the process, Kline was subjected to years of opprobrium and character assassination led by political enemies within the Kansas Government.

While Kline served as district attorney in 2007, a district judge reviewed Kline's evidence and found probable cause to believe that Planned Parenthood committed 107 criminal acts, including falsifying abortion records to cover up illegal late-term abortions. Kline filed charges against Planned Parenthood the next day. Kline's dogged investigation and prosecution of Planned Parenthood for these illegal acts and for its cover-up of the statutory rape of young girls contributed to the abortion giant being defunded by some states and local governments, and even endangered its receipt of federal funding. 

Though no longer serving in public office in the state of Kansas, Kline's enemies have not been content to let him go quietly on with his life. Over the past six years they have repeatedly claimed that he violated the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct. Last year, a panel of the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator made findings that Kline breached the Rules of Professional Conduct in ten instances. The panel recommended indefinite suspension of Kline's license to practice law in the State of Kansas. Note that the Disciplinary Panel served at the discretion of the Kansas Supreme Court, which consisted largely of appointees of pro-abortion Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Kline and his attorneys, supported by LLDF, stated the ethics complaint was politically motivated and Kline filed exceptions to the claims. Kline's filings forced five of the seven Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from Kline's case, which was argued before a reconstituted court in November 2012. During the hearing held at the Supreme Court, a law clerk working with the Kansas Court of Appeals publicly tweeted derogatory comments about Kline and predicted that Kline would lose his law license. The attorney has since been fired and the Court announced that it would investigate its attorney staff for unprofessional conduct and bias. That investigation is still pending.

The criminal charges against Planned Parenthood were dismissed after it was learned that the administration of then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius destroyed records under criminal subpoena implicating Planned Parenthood of criminal conduct. The Sebelius Administration was never investigated for its conduct.

About Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit
www.lldf.org.