Former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline spent most of this morning on the witness stand defending his investigation of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.
Lawyers for Tiller are asking Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens to throw out misdemeanor charges against the doctor because of the way Kline collected evidence.
“This is a case of prosecutorial misconduct,” Lee Thompson, one of Tiller’s lawyers, told Owens at a pretrial hearing this morning.
Thompson was arguing for Owens to order Kline to turn over a personal diary and notes about his investigation.
Most of the morning’s testimony consisted of verbal fencing between Kline and lawyer Dan Monnat, another member of Tiller’s legal team.
During the first two minutes of his testimony Kline answered “I don’t recall” 10 times.
Just before court recessed for lunch, Monnat began asking Kline about his knowledge of an affair between his successor as attorney general, Paul Morrison, and Linda Carter, who worked for Kline after he became Johnson County district attorney.
Monnat is trying to show that, through Carter, Kline continued to influence the Tiller case after leaving office.
Morrison and Carter are also scheduled to testify this week.
Reach Ron Sylvester at 316-268-6514 or [email protected]. All content © 2009 THE WICHITA EAGLE and may not be republished without permission.
By RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle