{"id":2396139,"date":"2025-01-28T14:17:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T19:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-strikes-plea-deal-in-planned-parenthood-undercover-video-case-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T14:18:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T19:18:03","slug":"california-strikes-plea-deal-in-planned-parenthood-undercover-video-case-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-strikes-plea-deal-in-planned-parenthood-undercover-video-case-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"California strikes plea deal in Planned Parenthood undercover video case &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornia-strikes-plea-deal-in-planned-parenthood-undercover-video-case-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2396139&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>California prosecutors have agreed to\u200b drop all \u2062charges against anti-abortion activists David Daleiden \u2062and Sandra \u2064Merritt as \u200dpart of a plea deal that resolves long-standing legal battles over their undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood.Under the \u2063agreement, both activists will enter \u200da &#8220;no contest&#8221; plea, wich will be recorded \u200das a misdemeanor\u200c but eventually converted to a &#8220;not guilty&#8221; \u200dplea after six to twelve months, leading to dismissal and expungement of the charges.<\/p>\n<p>This legal saga began in 2015 when \u2064the\u2063 Centre\u2063 for medical\u2064 Progress, led by Daleiden, released videos allegedly depicting Planned parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue. The \u2064organization\u200c has \u200bconsistently denied any wrongdoing. The investigation into Daleiden and Merritt \u2062was initiated by\u2062 then-Attorney General Kamala Harris in\u2063 2016,\u200d which\u200b included a\u200b raid on \u2062Daleiden&#8217;s home.<\/p>\n<p>Daleiden has described the plea deal\u2064 as a significant victory for \u2063his investigative work, asserting\u2062 the importance of exposing what he claims\u200d are unethical practices within Planned Parenthood. He plans \u2062to focus on advocacy efforts to highlight issues related to abortion and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">fetal tissue research<\/a> following the resolution \u200cof these criminal \u200ccharges.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">California strikes plea deal in Planned Parenthood undercover video case<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1949486\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">California<\/a> prosecutors on Monday agreed to drop all charges against anti-abortion activists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3115477\/planned-parenthood-sting-video-suppressed-by-harris-released\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt<\/a>, concluding years of litigation stemming from their undercover videos targeting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Planned Parenthood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The Center for Medical Progress, led by Daleiden, announced that both activists reached a plea agreement with Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta&rsquo;s office. Under this agreement, they will enter a &ldquo;no contest&rdquo; plea, resulting in no jail time, fines, admission of wrongdoing, or probation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerformedicalprogress.org\/2025\/01\/breaking-state-of-california-agrees-to-end-unprecedented-prosecution-of-cmps-undercover-video-reporting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">according<\/a> to a press release from CMP.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">David Daleiden, left, and Sandra Merritt, foreground, wait outside of a courtroom in San Francisco, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.  (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The plea will be recorded as a misdemeanor and converted within six to 12 months to a &ldquo;not guilty&rdquo; plea, ultimately leading to dismissal and expungement. It concludes a long-standing legal fight that was waged in part by several top state prosecutors, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Kamala Harris<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/xavier-becerra\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Xavier Becerra<\/a> before they worked in the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy began in 2015 when CMP released a series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue procurement, claiming those discussions surrounded negotiations to sell the body parts of unborn children to research labs. Planned Parenthood has consistently denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>Daleiden hailed the settlement as a &ldquo;huge victory&rdquo; for his investigative work and emphasized the importance of exposing practices within Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;After enduring 9 years of weaponized political prosecution, putting an end to the lawfare launched by Kamala Harris is a huge victory for my investigative reporting and for the public&rsquo;s right to know the truth about Planned Parenthood&rsquo;s sale of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-clears-the-way-to-allow-research-on-fetal-tissue-from-abortions\/\" title=\"Biden Admin Clears The Way To Allow Research On Fetal Tissue From Abortions\">aborted baby body parts<\/a>,&rdquo; Daleiden said, adding he plans to spend his time working to protect babies from the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">criminal abortion-industrial complex<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The legal battles intensified when then-California Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Kamala Harris<\/a> (D), who recently lost her presidential bid against Republican President Donald Trump, initiated an investigation into Daleiden and Merritt in 2016. This led to a raid on Daleiden&rsquo;s home, where videos and documents were seized. Daleiden accused Harris of &ldquo;weaponization&rdquo; of her office due to her political alignment with Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally in Houston on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo\/Susan Walsh)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After Harris was sworn in as senator in 2017, Attorney General Becerra continued her prosecution and eventually levied 15 felony charges against the activists for invasion of privacy and conspiracy. Becerra was the director of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Biden-Harris administration.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, a California state judge ruled that&nbsp;only nine of the 15 charges could be brought during a trial, citing that the conversations recorded by Daleiden and Merritt did not meet the legal threshold for confidentiality under California law. The criminal case was marred with delays and never went to trial.<\/p>\n<p>However, a separate civil case ultimately saw a resolution and even a rejection of a final review by the Supreme Court. A federal jury in 2019 awarded Planned Parenthood over $2 million in damages, concluding that Daleiden and his associates had breached confidentiality agreements and committed fraud by misrepresenting themselves to gain access to private meetings and facilities. The pair then appealed to the 9th Circuit, which ultimately upheld the jury&rsquo;s findings.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Invoking journalism and the First Amendment does not shield individuals from liability for violations of laws applicable to all members of society,&rdquo; wrote Circuit Judge Ronald Gould in the appellate court&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2022\/10\/21\/20-16068.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">opinion<\/a> in the civil case.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The resolution of the criminal case allows Daleiden and Merritt to focus on their advocacy efforts.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Taking the San Francisco case off the board allows me to focus fully on CMP&rsquo;s mission to report on the injustices of taxpayer-funded experiments on aborted babies and continue to expand our groundbreaking investigative reporting,&rdquo; Daleiden said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1949486\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1949486\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California drops charges against activists in Planned Parenthood case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2396140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP17173713926656.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4045,37662,32538,49355,32076],"class_list":["post-2396139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-california","tag-planned-parenthood","tag-plea-deal","tag-undercover-video","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP17173713926656.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2396143,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396139\/revisions\/2396143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2396140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}