A biased judge sided with Planned Parenthood in pre-determining Sandra’s guilt and saying her First Amendment rights were not relevant! Now we’re fighting back as we enter 2020! See below. —Mat

I’ve shared with you the outrageous court ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood against our client, pro-life hero Sandra Merritt. The media tried to portray it as a triumph for Planned Parenthood, but here’s what really happened...

+  +  The "Planned Parenthood Judge's" Obvious Bias

San Francisco U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick III presided over this case in a way that pre-determined the outcome, tied the hands of the jury and forced the jury to render a verdict for Planned Parenthood.

While the ruling was truly outrageous, it was also no surprise at all because of the judge’s clear bias in favor of Planned Parenthood.

For example, Judge Orrick is a co-founder of the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center that houses a Planned Parenthood of Northern California facility in its complex!

This is precisely why in 2017 we asked Judge Orrick to recuse himself from the case due to his “ongoing and longstanding professional relationship with Planned Parenthood.” But he refused. And then for six weeks this fall, we witnessed his partiality on full display.

+  +  Bias beyond belief...

Just about every day throughout the long trial, Judge Orrick repeated his instruction that the case was not about Planned Parenthood’s illegal or unethical conduct. Then, in his 110-page instructions to the jury, the Planned Parenthood Judge:

• ordered the jury to find Sandra guilty of trespassing for her undercover journalism at Planned Parenthood and guilty of breach of certain contracts.

• pre-determined Sandra’s guilt, even though trespass was an impossibility when the recordings occurred in restaurants, convention centers and an elevator!

• told the jury that they must accept his rulings and only decide if Planned Parenthood suffered damage from the trespass and what damages they should be awarded. He ordered the jury to presume damages for Planned Parenthood.

• forbade the jury from looking at this as a First Amendment case in which freedom of speech and the press could be considered as a defense.

• instructed the jury that they could not consider the content of the undercover videos themselves to determine whether Sandra had reasonable belief that Planned Parenthood was committing crimes.

+  +  We are fighting back...

With the jury’s hands tied by Judge Orrick’s outrageous orders, it is no surprise that the jurors had no option but to decide in favor of Planned Parenthood, including the application of RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), which the Supreme Court ruled cannot be used against pro-life speech!

Rest assured, this Planned Parenthood Judge will NOT have the last word in this case! There are many reversible errors that our Liberty Counsel legal team will aggressively address on appeal.

We will fight for Sandra and the precious infants who are tortured and killed by Planned Parenthood. This case is the fault line between good and evil, life and death.

And I have no doubt we are on the right side.

But to prevail in this battle in 2020, I ask you to stand with us on Sandra’s side, too.

Right now, we're fighting on two fronts for Sandra. We're mounting our appeal in the civil case, and we're also intensely working to win a dismissal of the remaining criminal charges—all baseless—levied against Sandra by Planned Parenthood's hired gun, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

And the stakes are huge. If the trial judge in the criminal case sides with AG Becerra, Sandra will face another lengthy trial in the months ahead . . . and the very real possibility of years behind bars.

That's why I urgently need your help right now.

We've invested HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in hard costs defending Sandra JUST IN 2019 ALONE! These costs do not include attorney and staff time. This case is the most expensive case in our 30-year history.

And in addition to these twin battles with Planned Parenthood, we have hundreds of other vital cases on our docket right now!

Can I count on your support?

Will you make your best possible gift to Liberty Counsel as we fight back against this outrageous Planned Parenthood ruling and continue to fight for faith and freedom in hundreds of cases and many other legal matters?

Thank you for your faithfulness, and God bless you!

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. We knew the deck was stacked against us, but what happened in court is beyond anything I've ever seen. A biased judge sided with Planned Parenthood in pre-determining Sandra's guilt and said her First Amendment rights were not relevant! But we're nowhere near the end of this fight!

Yet to fight and win in this case and many others, I'm asking for your much-needed help.