Topeka, Kansas – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe remain under an active and progressing investigation for ethics violations alleged in complaints filed by an Operation Rescue staff member.
The Attorney General’s office has supplied answers to the complaint of ethical misconduct for both Schmidt and Howe that were identical and included gross misrepresentations of the most important allegations against them.
Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue, who filed the complaints, is scheduled to be interviewed on December 14, 2012, by investigators appointed by the state to delve into this complex case where there seem to be more questions than answers.
At issue is the handling of a criminal case against Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood, which was charged with 107 criminal counts related to illegal late-term abortions and manufacturing evidence to cover their crimes. That case was filed by Phill Kline, who served in both offices now occupied by Schmidt and Howe.
Operation Rescue alleges that Schmidt and Howe committed ethical misconduct during the case, which involved a mysterious shredding of evidence that was in the custody of the Attorney General’s office and the misrepresentation in court and in a public press release that all copies of certain evidence against Planned Parenthood had been destroyed or were incomplete. That evidence consisted of Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) forms that showed Planned Parenthood forged documents after it came to the attention of a court officer that the TOP forms were illegally missing from patient files.
Sullenger received documentation from Judge Richard Anderson that pristine copies of the records in fact existed and were placed under seal in the Shawnee County Courthouse after Howe told a judge that no complete copies were left.
“We stand on our assertion that the public was betrayed by Schmidt and Howe. No one has ever fully answered the questions concerning the destruction of evidence that supported Planned Parenthood’s document manufacturing scheme,” said Sullenger.
“Schmidt and Howe, who both purport to be pro-life Republicans, concocted a confusing and often contradictory story that never was supported by hard evidence. It is a sad fact that we have seen greater cooperation in prosecuting abortion crimes elsewhere from prosecutors that are avidly pro-choice. We welcome this investigation and hope it discovers the truth about why, in spite of three probable cause findings by three different judges, that Planned Parenthood was shielded from prosecution on 107 serious crimes.”
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