Last month, David Daleiden and his criminal defense lawyers released additional footage of abortion providers and the names of 14 of his accusers, possibly violating court injunctions and seals.
By Ema O'Connor
Late last month, David Daleiden and his team of criminal attorneys allegedly flouted multiple injunctions and court-issued seals by posting more shocking videos of abortion providers and identifying 14 of the John/Jane Does participating in the state criminal complaint against him and his recording partner Sandra Merritt. Those names were previously under a court seal.
This apparent defiance of court orders may end up landing Daleiden and his criminal attorneys in contempt of both state and federal court, potentially resulting in fines and jail time — and disbarment for the lawyers.
Daleiden’s work once caused multiple congressional investigations and nearly shut down the government. Two years and multiple lawsuits and legal hurdles later, the 28-year-old and his Planned Parenthood investigation have faded out of the headlines.
But as the cases against Daleiden continue — and grow more complicated — he has become a central figure of the somewhat sidelined culture wars, now playing out in both federal and state court in California. On the one hand, his opponents contend that Daleiden is an extreme activist who edited illegally obtained footage in order to harm the biggest abortion provider in the country and, by proxy, its employees. On the other, is a fierce collection of devoted, anti-abortion followers who see the prosecution of Daleiden as an attack on the First Amendment and the oppression of a “hero” by liberal courts and elected officials.
All along, Daleiden has continued fighting his case in court, perhaps no more vigorously than when he and his criminal attorneys released the new tapes and list of names.
David Daleiden and his defense attorneys are religious fanatics who don’t see themselves as bound by court orders, or hindered by any accountability for the serious consequences resulting from their deceptive messages. The most serious consequence was the Colorado Springs mass shooting where a heavily armed Robert Dear Jr. attacked a Planned Parenthood Clinic killing three and injuring five police officers and four civilians.