Tiller’s lawyers Dan Monnat and Lee Thompson said Wednesday that Foulston’s investigation helps show what they’ve said all along: The doctor has not broken any laws.
“Ms. Foulston’s thorough investigation,” Monnat said, “has now made it clear that, in fact, child rapists are behind bars because of Dr. Tiller’s strict compliance with the letter of the reporting laws and his cooperation with law enforcement authorities in several states.”
Foulston spokeswoman Georgia Cole said the district attorney had not seen McKinney’s filing. Nor had Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney representing Tiller.
“We’re not surprised that the publicity stunts of the AG and his so-called independent, so-called special prosecutor continue up to the very last minute of the attorney general’s tenure,” Monnat said. “From a legal standpoint, these recent stunts are nothing more than legal floundering on their point.”
Sedgwick County District Judge Paul Clark found Thursday that Foulston had legal authority to dismiss the charges Kline filed.
Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller is “an innocent man unfairly maligned by Kline.”
But Tiller’s attorneys argue that Kline isn’t capable of fairly evaluating evidence involving Tiller, given his anti-abortion politics. One of them, Dan Monnat, of Wichita, called McKinney “a former Kline campaigner and anti-abortion activist.”
But Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney representing Tiller, said Thursday that the special prosecutor’s background shows Kline isn’t conducting a fair inquiry.
“I would say no effort was made to find an independent prosecutor,” Monnat said.
Dan Monnat, one of Tiller’s lawyers, said he wasn’t troubled by any further review of files involving Tiller. “We have every confidence that Dr. Tiller is innocent,” Monnat said.
One of Tiller’s other lawyers, Lee Thompson, said that the statute of limitations had expired on some of the cases. Monnat said Tiller’s lawyers are analyzing the charges to see how the statute of limitations applies.
But Wichita lawyer Dan Monnat, one of Tiller’s lawyers, said of McKinney, “We’ve known him to protest outside Tiller’s clinic.”
One of Tiller’s lawyers, Dan Monnat, said Tuesday: “We have confidence in the decision made last week by Judge Clark and District Attorney Foulston. We believe that will stand.”
Monnat said he knows of no other similar charges filed in Sedgwick County since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that declared a basic right to abortion.
“These charges related to his (Kline’s) personal disagreement” with courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, “that a woman’s mental health factors into her decision to terminate a pregnancy,” Monnat said.
Monnat said he and Thompson, a former federal prosecutor, had contemplated the legality of Kline’s dealings with the Sedgwick County District Court but had not discussed the matter with Foulston.
“Really, there were multiple legal grounds on which to get this dismissed,” Monnat said. “Factually, Dr. Tiller is innocent of any wrongdoing, so a motion to dismiss should be granted on that basis. Nola has now found the legal flaw in the attorney general’s parting action, which resulted in an expeditious dismissal.”
“You can see each primary count is Phill Kline’s disagreement with the notion that a woman’s mental health can be considered in a abortion determination,” Dan Monnat, a criminal defense lawyer who represents Tiller, told The Eagle after the complaint had been unsealed. “And each secondary count is some hypertechnical bizarre view of the state’s reporting requirement.”
By 12:50 p.m. today, Clark had signed the order.
Monnat said he and Thompson, a former U.S. attorney, had contemplated the legality of Kline’s dealings with the Sedgwick County court but had not discussed the matter with Foulston.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the courageous actions of the district attorney,” Monnat said. “Really, there were multiple legal grounds on which to get this dismissed. Factually, Dr. Tiller is innocent of any wrongdoing, so a motion to dismiss should be granted on that basis. Nola has now found the legal flaw in the attorney general’s parting action, which resulted in an expeditious dismissal.”
