SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge has fined an anti-abortion activist and two of his attorneys nearly $200,000 after videos that the judge had barred from release appeared on the attorneys’ website.
U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick said Thursday he hoped the sanction against David Daleiden and his attorneys, Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira, would ensure future compliance with his injunction.
Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress has released secretly recorded videos it says show Planned Parenthood employees selling fetal tissue for profit. Planned Parenthood has denied the claim.
Orrick has blocked other secret recordings by the group, and held Daleiden and his attorneys in contempt after the videos surfaced.
Daleiden said in a statement the sanction was an unconscionable attack on his rights to defend himself. Matthew Geragos, an attorney for Cooley and Ferreira, said he is appealing.
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