San Francisco Superior Court dismissed two of the ten criminal charges against Sandra Merritt in an online court hearing held yesterday as a provision under California Penal Code 995 motion. This motion allows for a new judge to review the record and determine if the surviving counts should have survived, or if the newly added count could have been added. 

One of the counts Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos dropped included the charge for “false identification documents,” brought against Merritt by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on December 13, 2019, even though the statute of limitations had long ago expired for any new claims. Judge Bolanos concluded there was insufficient evidence that Merritt used a “deceptive ID” that did not contain the disclaimer required by the statute. 

Liberty Counsel will file the appeal requesting the dismissal of the remaining eight charges brought against Merritt by AG Becerra for her undercover journalism work in exposing Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in baby body parts. 

The undercover videos, some of which were recorded at the National Abortion Federation’s (NAF) 2014 and 2015 abortion convention and trade shows, exposed Planned Parenthood’s 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.

Liberty Counsel Vice President of Legal Affairs and Chief Litigation Horatio Mihet said, “The attorney general’s political prosecution of Sandra Merritt is coming off the rails as two more of his bogus charges are now dismissed. We will continue to vigorously defend Sandra at every stage and will not rest until this runaway train is fully derailed.”