Tuesday Jan. 06, 2009
Kline defends Tiller investigation as hearings resume
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle
Former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline spent
most of this morning on the witness stand defending his
investigation of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.
Lawyers for Tiller are asking Sedgwick County
District Judge Clark Owens to throw out misdemeanor charges against
the doctor because of the way Kline collected evidence.
"This is a case of prosecutorial misconduct," Lee
Thompson, one of Tiller's lawyers, told Owens at a pretrial hearing
this morning.
Thompson was arguing for Owens to order Kline to
turn over a personal diary and notes about his investigation.
Most of the morning's testimony consisted of
verbal fencing between Kline and lawyer Dan
Monnat, another member of Tiller's legal team.
During the first two minutes of his testimony
Kline answered "I don't recall" 10 times.
Just before court recessed for lunch,
Monnat began asking Kline about his
knowledge of an affair between his successor as attorney general,
Paul Morrison, and Linda Carter, who worked for Kline after he
became Johnson County district attorney.
Monnat is
trying to show that, through Carter, Kline continued to influence
the Tiller case after leaving office.
Morrison and Carter are also scheduled to testify
this week.
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