[July 30, 1999] Thank you for your continued support! We appreciate your words of support and encouragement, your financial contributions, and your political actions.
On June 2, 1999, supporters of Dr. Bruce Steir gathered at the California Court of Appeals in Riverside County to hear deliberations regarding Dr. Steir's request for discovery of Medical Board of California's records to show selective prosecution. We finally have a ruling.
Unfortunately, the Court of Appeals denied Dr. Steir's request for further discovery. Defense Attorney Doron Weinberg's next step will be to go back to the California Supreme Court. The appeal will be filed in early August. The Supreme Court has 30 days in which to act upon the appeal. If the Court rules in our favor, then we proceed from there. If not, we will be back at the Riverside County Court, and a trial date will be set, perhaps for sometime this Winter.
The Court did not accept Weinberg's preliminary showing of evidence to justify the discovery. Even though Weinberg brought forth "some evidence," required by the court, to support his motion, the court concluded that it was insufficient. He presented evidence that the Attorney General had given Jeanette Driesbach non-public documents containing highly prejudicial investigative reports. She had passed them on to the Coroner who changed his finding from accidental death to criminal homicide.
On the other hand, the Court felt that the Medical Board and the district attorney had presented sufficient evidence that selective prosecution had not taken place. They presented declarations by officials who stated that the decision to prosecute was not influenced by the fact that the medical procedure was an abortion. Finally, the Court found that since it was the district attorney who made the decision to prosecute, the Medical Board could not have singled abortion providers out for prosecution.
The Defense Committee is outraged at the Court's blatant bias shown by the fact that they ignored the irregular behavior of the Medical Board and the accepted the self-serving declarations of the Medical Board and the attorney general as proof of the fact that no selective prosecution had taken place. Using these criteria, no defendant could ever get discovery of a state agency's investigative records.
Dr. Steir has borne nearly all his legal fees, and the defense fund, which has been used to fund support activities only, is seriously depleted. Your financial support is needed now. To make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact:
Dr. Bruce Steir Defense Committee
c/o Feminist Women's Health Center
1469 Humboldt Road, Ste. 200
Chico, CA 95929
(530) 891-1917
steirfund@aol.com -- http://www.steirsdefense.org
Please continue to write to the Attorney General's Office in protest to this outrageous charge of murder:
Bill Lockyer,
Office of Attorney General
1300 I Street #1101
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
[posted 7/31/99]
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