State Courts

Assistant AG asks judge not to enforce subpoena by Roeder?s defense

By Ron Sylvester

Barry Disney, who prosecuted a case against abortion provider George Tiller just two months before his death, has filed a motion to quash a subpoena from the defense of the doctor’s accused killer.

The assistant Kansas Attorney General said he has no information that would be relevant to the trial. Disney also said testifying at trial would interfere with his preparations for a capital murder trial he is prosecuting with Attorney General Steve Six in Butler County. Disney said the subpoena also calls for him to reveal confidential attorney work product.

Disney received a subpoena about the same time as former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline. Disney prosecuted Tiller on 19 misdemeanor counts stemming from late-term abortion procedures. A jury acquitted Tiller after less than 20 minutes of deliberations.

The defense has said it planned to call Kline, who investigated Tiller throughout his tenure as AG, and Disney to relay facts about their investigations. The lawyers have indicated what Roeder learned through public reports about those cases helped him form the mindset that shooting Tiller would protect the unborn.

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).