The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday blocked a grand jury investigation of Dr. George Tiller and his Wichita clinic. The grand jury investigation was the result of a citizen petition circulated by anti-abortion extremist groups. Chief Justice Kay McFarland ordered the proceedings delayed until the Kansas Supreme Court decides if the panel should convene in response to a petition filed by Dr. Tiller’s attorneys.
The Tiller petition states that the grounds for the grand jury petition were derived from the illegal distribution of women’s health care records, that the empanelment of the grand jury is a bad-faith harassment of Tiller by anti-abortion extremists, and that the proceedings would interfere with a women’s constitutional right to an abortion.
Don Monnat, one of Tiller’s lawyers, told the Wichita Eagle that Friday’s ruling indicated that the Supreme Court is seriously considering their arguments, and that he expected the Court to take at least a year to rule on the matter.
