Today, the jury in Planned Parenthood, et al. v. Center for Medical Progress (CMP) found our clients, pro-life journalist David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress, liable for causing harm to Planned Parenthood.
After hearing closing arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday, a panel of 10 jurors deliberated over six weeks worth of testimony for two days before deciding Daleiden and his colleagues owe Planned Parenthood $870,000 in punitive damages and over half a million in compensatory damages for their undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of aborted baby body parts. The verdict found the defendants guilty under the federal Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, among other crimes such as trespassing.
David Daleiden comments:
While top Planned Parenthood witnesses spent six weeks testifying under oath that the undercover videos are true and Planned Parenthood sold fetal organs on a quid pro quo basis, a biased judge with close Planned Parenthood ties spent six weeks influencing the jury with pre-determined rulings and by suppressing video evidence, all in order to rubber-stamp Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit attack on the First Amendment. This is a dangerous precedent for citizen journalism and First Amendment civil rights across the country, sending a message that speaking truth and facts criticizing the powerful is no longer protected by our institutions
David Daleiden, Center for Medical Progress
U.S. District Judge William Orrick III, a Planned Parenthood supporter, made multiple rulings before and during the trial that tipped the scale in Planned Parenthood’s favor, all but ensuring that the jury would not see the full scope of Planned Parenthood’s heinous acts.
Throughout the trial, Orrick was hostile to David, repeatedly cutting off defense questioning he considered straying too close to eliciting information related to Planned Parenthood’s history of selling tissue from aborted fetuses.
Charles LiMandri, FCDF senior counsel, was lead defense attorney during the trial. Co-counsel in David’s defense included St. Thomas More Society.
Now that the verdict is in, FCDF intends to make multiple appeals, from the damages award to challenging Judge Orrick’s biased rulings.
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