On September 16, Judge Christopher C. Hite issued a ruling stating that the search warrant issued against Daleiden would not be quashed because the California eavesdropping law does not contain exceptions for journalistic activities. He also said there was, “sufficient probable cause in the warrant that Daleiden was engaged in criminal activity irrespective of his journalistic status and that the items seized were related to the criminal activity."The defense for Daleiden and Merritt also requested a Franks hearing on Friday. This procedure would investigate whether the information provided by the police to obtain a warrant included false statements from an officer. The defense argued that DOJ special agent Cardwell was pressured by planned parenthood to serve the warrant and did not provide complete information to the judge when requesting it. He left out, for example, the fact that several conversations were recorded in public places where there could be no assumption of confidentiality. Furthermore, defense lawyer Brent Ferreira stated that the defense collected statements from at least two Department of Justice agents who were willing to testify that the entire operation was political.
Despite all of this, Judge Hite ruled there was insufficient essence to justify a Franks hearing. Click here for more.
