Just the misdemeanor charge, not the felony.
Right there with them
A Harris County judge has dropped one of the criminal charges against an anti-abortion activist who was indicted after making undercover recordings of a Houston Planned Parenthood facility.
David Daleiden, one of the videographers who infiltrated Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, had been charged with the very crime he tried to secretly catch Planned Parenthood committing — a misdemeanor charge for offering to sell or buy fetal tissue. But that charge was dismissed on Monday, according to the Harris County District Clerk website.
[…]
Daleiden’s team in April asked the judge to dismiss his indictments, alleging they were a result of improper proceedings by prosecutors and that the grand jury — originally asked to investigate Planned Parenthood, not the videographers — exceeded its authority.
In a statement Tuesday, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said the judge’s ruling was not based on Daleiden’s motion to quash the indictments.
“The basis for the judge’s ruling was not raised by the defense at any time,” Anderson said. “We do not intend to appeal the judge’s decision. Our office remains focused on the felony charge pending in the 338th District Court.”
See here and here for some background. The Press explains why the misdemeanor indictment for offering to sell or buy fetal tissue was tossed:
Judge Bull reasoned that the indictment was defective because prosecutors did not list an “exception” to the criminal charge—essentially, prosecutors didn’t list a few scenarios in which the defendants’ actions would in fact be legal. One of those exceptions that prosecutors failed to list? It just so happens to be the very defense that Planned Parenthood mounted against the radical right’s attacks: “reimbursement of expenses…incurred by the donor of a human organ in connection with the donation of the organ.”
Yes, because prosecutors didn’t write down that exception in the formal indictment, Judge Bull says the case is void.
I’m not particularly concerned about this. It’s the felony charges that matter, and those are still in place for both Daleiden and Merritt, who apparently has not yet made a decision about whether or not to accept the offer of probation from the DA. As long as Daleiden in particular goes down in a blaze of self-righteous baloney at the end of all this, I’m good. The Chron, the Observer, and Trail Blazers have more.
Double jeopardy doesn’t attach. They could amend if they choose. They will be found not guilty, though on all counts.