Judge refuses to reinstate charges against Kansas abortion doctor, special prosecutor named

Wednesday, December 27th 2006, 9:17 pm

By: News On 6

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ A judge refused Wednesday to reinstate criminal charges against a Wichita abortion doctor, only hours after the outgoing attorney general named a special prosecutor to handle the case.

Last week, Attorney General Phill Kline, a vocal abortion opponent, filed 30 charges against Dr. George Tiller, accusing him of performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22 and not properly reporting details to the state.

Sedgwick County Judge Paul W. Clark threw out the charges on jurisdictional grounds less than day later. Kline then asked Clark to reinstate the charges, but the judge rejected that request during a hearing Wednesday.

Tiller's clinic, one of the few in the country to perform late-term abortions, has been a target of abortion opponents for decades. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993.

The judge threw out the case after the Sedgwick County district attorney argued that Kline, who was defeated for re-election in November, did not have authority to file the charges.

Kline said he is turning over decisions about the case _ including whether to appeal Clark's latest ruling _ to the newly appointed special prosecutor: Don McKinney, a Democrat and brother of House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg.

``This appointment of an independent special prosecutor will remove this investigation from a highly charged political process,'' Kline said.

Kline also criticized Clark's decision, saying neither the judge nor the district attorney had reviewed any of the evidence.