TOPEKA. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline spent much of Wednesday morning testifying as part of his defense against attorney ethics charges he faces.

During a noon press conference Kline asserted that Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carole Beier should recuse herself in matters involving abortion, and Lawton Nuss should recuse himself in matters involving Kline:

“Now we’ve learned that there was an active effort by the Supreme Court of Kansas, particularly Justice Beier, in misrepresenting the record and harming the ability to engage in legitimate investigation/prosecution of criminal conduct within those abortion clinics.  That has been the testimony this morning.  The testimony stands because it is the truth.  It causes grave concern.”

“Justice Beier formerly worked for the National Women’s Law Center, which represented interests supporting abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.  She should have recused herself in consideration of these issues.  She should recuse herself from consideration in the future.  Her conflict is not only apparent, it certainly meets the rule that if there is a reasonable belief that someone sitting on a case would cause people to question their impartiality, they should recuse themselves, by themselves without motion.”

“Furthermore, it has concerned me for some time that Justice Nuss continues to sit on cases involving myself.  I was presented evidence of Justice Nuss violating the judicial conduct ethics.  I was forced to file a complaint against Justice Nuss.  Justice Nuss was then admonished for his conduct in meeting with with legislators in the Montoy case.  My filing of that complaint, his knowledge of that  and it’s something I’ve never made public before, should have caused Justice Nuss to recuse himself … Chief Justice Nuss now, from consideration of matters involving myself and I hope the court takes the proper action in the future and does just that.”

Watch Kline’s press conference including his statement and responses to questions:

Questions answered in the above video:

Q1.  You made statements in the hearing this morning that court statements were false; court statements enabled false inferences; and that … politics were injected into the legal opinion.   Can you comment on that?

Q2.  Can you comment on the statement in one of the court documents that you exhibited little if any respect for the authority of the Supreme Court?

Documents cited in Kline’s answer:

• Alpha Beta Medical v. Judge Richard Anderson, Attorney General Phill Kline
• Planned Parenthood v. District Attorney Phill Kline and Attorney General Steve Six
• Kansas v. Planned Parenthood

Q3.  Are you accusing the Kansas Supreme Court, and specifically Justice Beier, of obstruction of justice?

Kline’s morning testimony stepped through these documents to identify problems he saw in them and how ethics charges against him were unfounded.

Others testifying on Wednesday

• John Badger, former SRS general counsel, testified about subpoenas served on SRS to obtain sexual abuse reports for children under 16 years of age.
• Thomas Stanton, Reno County Deputy District Attorney, testified as an expert witness about prosecution and law enforcement practices

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Phill Kline discusses two legal issues related to his attorney ethics case in the following videos:

“Confidential” has two legal meanings in Kansas?

Conflict of Interest in Kline’s ethics case?

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Count 2 Hearing in July

The 8-day hearing from Feb. 21 – March 2 focused on the 17 charges under Count 1.

The hearing on Count 2 of the complaint against Kline is scheduled for July 19 at 10 AM and may take four days.  However, panel chair Jo An Butaud, asked Disciplinary Administrator Stan Hazlett if any sort of settlement might be reached before then.  Hazlett replied, “anything is possible.”

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Observers

Two citizens concerned about the Kline ethics hearing reflected on their observations about the proceedings in the videos below:

Maria Holiday, Overland Park

Bob Awerkamp, Maple Hill

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Related:

• Chronology of Phill Kline’s Ethics Hearing, Kansas Meadowlark

• Kline blasts Kansas Supreme Court, Topeka Capital Journal, March 2, 2011.
• Phill Kline: Kansas Supreme Court ‘obstructed’ child rape investigation to save Planned Parenthood, LifeSiteNews, March 2, 2011.
• Phill Kline ethics trial adjourns for now: battle has cost him $200,000 says Kline, LifeSiteNews.com, March 2, 2011.
• Kline Reveals Kansas Supreme Court Obstructed Justice, As First Part of Ethics Trial Concludes, Operation Rescue, March 3, 2011.
• Kline upset with limited time for defense in attorney ethics matter, Kansas Watchdog, March 1, 2011.
• Kline’s attorney ethics hearing, day 5, Kansas Watchdog, Feb. 28, 2011.
• Kline ethics case: Who gave CD with documents from A.G.’s office to Dr. Tiller’s Attorney?, Kansas Watchdog, Feb. 25, 2011.
• Kansas Chief Justice admonishes fellow justices for denigrating Phill Kline, Kansas Meadowlark, Dec. 5, 2008.
• Why all the secrecy in the Kansas Supreme Court? Will Phill Kline survive a legal/political battle with the Supreme Court in a secret case?, Kansas Meadowlark, Dec. 4, 2007.

• Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct from Rules Adopted by the Kansas Supreme Court

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Contact: Earl F Glynn, earl@kansaswatchdog.org, KansasWatchdog.org

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