Criminal Charges Against Journalist...

Nov 16, 2023

Yesterday, I wrote you regarding how God had already prepared the way for victory in saving CHRISTmas in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin – whose city officials, by the way, are now in full retreat after receiving our demand letter.

Today, we are praying the Lord will grant a victory for our client Sandra Merritt, the heroic undercover journalist being prosecuted for her factual reporting which exposed Planned Parenthood’s grotesque "Baby Parts for Sale" scheme.

We head to court in San Francisco tomorrow. Please be in prayer that our Lord's perfect will is done, not only in this courtroom, but throughout the land. Read on. – Mat


Tomorrow, Liberty Counsel will appear in a San Francisco courtroom to argue that all the remaining eight criminal charges against Sandra Merritt be dismissed.

In 2015, Sandra went undercover as a journalist for 30 months to record Planned Parenthood and organ procurement company officials openly bragging about their illegal human organ harvesting and trafficking practices.

In crowded restaurants and busy convention centers, Planned Parenthood affiliate doctors admitted to conducting banned abortion procedures to gain top dollar for the tiny baby parts they were unlawfully selling.

Other videos showed freshly "harvested" baby limbs, organs, and eyeballs spread out in a common baking dish, being made ready to be shipped to the highest bidder.

Yet other evidence uncovered by Sandra and her journalist partners showed price lists for these ill-gotten gains, and Planned Parenthood Dr. Mary Gatter haggling for higher prices for those butchered baby parts because she "wants a Lamborghini," among other horrors.

Sandra's videos shocked the world. But not a single Planned Parenthood doctor or official ever went to jail for their crime. Instead, Planned Parenthood deployed their massive 1.8 billion dollars per year monetary muscle and political contacts, resulting in criminal felony charges brought against SANDRA for her truthful reporting.

Instigated by then Attorneys General Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra (now Vice President and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, respectively), Sandra faced 15 felony charges. Liberty Counsel managed to get seven of those charges dismissed, but the remaining eight charges could land Sandra in prison for years ... and set a precedent that would effectively end ALL undercover journalism.

But God has prepared a way for Sandra to be vindicated. . .

You see, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in Project Veritas v. Schmidt, that an Oregon state ban on surreptitious recordings of conversations is a content-based restriction that violates the First Amendment right to free speech and is invalid.

The three-judge panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of a complaint challenging, as an unconstitutional restriction of protected speech, Section 165.540(1)(c) of the Oregon Revised Code, which generally prohibits unannounced recordings of conversations, subject to several exceptions.

California's current recording law, which was used to justify the charges against Sandra, is substantially similar to the Oregon law the Ninth Circuit just struck down. Like the Oregon law, California's law and its exceptions "draw a distinction between topics" and whether the recorded conversation is a "confidential communication."

Since California Penal Code section 632(a) is nearly identical to Oregon's unconstitutional statute, and similarly unconstitutional, it should suffer the same fate and Merritt's case should be dismissed.

TOMMOROW Liberty Counsel will be in the San Francisco Superior Court defending our motion to dismiss all charges against Sandra in light of the 9th Circuit court ruling protecting undercover journalism.

The Superior Court of San Francisco County should finally dismiss all eight remaining criminal charges against Sandra Merritt for her undercover work in exposing Planned Parenthood's crimes.

Sandra's case is the longest and most expensive case in Liberty Counsel’s history. For eight long years, Sandra has weathered the fury of Planned Parenthood and their political allies. God willing, that storm will end soon.

Please pray for our legal team and Sandra as we enter another battle for liberty. Please also prayerfully consider supporting our legal fund with a one-time gift or a recurring monthly donation.

Liberty Counsel never charges for our legal work as few could afford to defend themselves against corporate giants and a government gone mad. Instead, our clients rely on friends like YOU, a faithful Liberty Counsel supporter. Every donation made to our legal fund today will be DOUBLED in impact by a special Challenge Grant. Please, give generously.


Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
 

P.S. Planned Parenthood is also trying to do an end run around the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, which overturned 50 years of baby butchery under Roe v. Wade. If passed, HR 15 will make ALL abortions — even late-term and homicidal partial birth abortions — a federal right.

Fax Congress NOW to BLOCK Planned Parenthood's attempt to make abortion up until birth a federal right. Tell Congress to VOTE NO on HR 15! And sign the petition.


Source:

Review of Liberty Counsel Asks Court to Dismiss Merritt Criminal Case. Liberty Counsel, November 16, 2023. https://lc.org/newsroom/details/102623-liberty-counsel-asks-court-to-dismiss-merritt-criminal-case.

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