8A NEWS
KANSAS SUPREME COURT
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2008
State limits grand jury
Subpoenas not modified in Wichita doctor case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — The state's highest court limited the power Tuesday of a grand jury investigating abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, but it refused to block the jury's subpoenas or strike down the law under which it convened
The legal dispute before the Supreme
"The district court must consider the competing interests of the state and the patients."
Court involved subpoenas seeking medical records from the Tiller's Wichita clinic. The Sedgwick County grand jury issued the subpoenas to Tiller and Attorney General Steve Six.
The justices declined to quash or modify the subpoenas or strike down the law. But in returning the case, it spelled out a series of conditions the subpoenas must meet.
KANSAS SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court returned the case to district court, telling the presiding judge to determine whether the subpoenas should be enforced based on the justices' guidelines. Both an attorney for Tiller and the leader of an anti-abortion group said the ruling will be helpful to their cause.
Tiller and Six wanted the court to quash the subpoenas or limit their scope. The Center for Reproductive Rights, based in New York, filed its own legal challenge on behalf of Tiller's patients, arguing that complying with the subpoenas could jeopardize their privacy.
Tiller's attorneys also asked the court to strike down the law allowing citizens to petition for a grand jury. Abortion opponents used the 1887 state law to force Sedgwick County to convene the panel investigating Tiller.
"The court should satisfy itself that the grand jury has not engaged in an arbitrary fishing expedition and that the targets were not selected and
subpoenas issued out of malice or with intent to harass," Justice Lee Johnson wrote for the unanimous court. "If so, the court should quash the subpoenas."
The Supreme Court said if the district court determines that both of those conditions are satisfied, it must consider patients' privacy
It must allow Tiller's clinic to remove all patient identifying information from the copies it provides to the grand jury, the high court said.
"The district court must
writing such a law, the Kansas Legislature interfered with the judiciary's operations.
The Supreme Court disagreed. It noted that once the grand jury is convened, "the role of the citizenry in the grand jury process ceases."
"It's a very good decision recognizing that the grand jury does not have unfettered powers and the grand jury subpoenaes require a degree of judicial oversight."
consider the competing interests of the state and the patients;" the court said.
"We were afraid they were going to kill the rule of law along with the babies."
Tiller attorney Lee Thompson acknowledged that he still believes the grand jury law is unconstitutional, but he was pleased the court set guidelines on the jury's power to issue subpoenas.
"Any claim that the process is being abused does not follow from an unconstitutional legislative invasion of the judicial or executive function, but rather from any failure of the judiciary to exercise its oversight function," Johnson wrote.
Kansas is one of six states that allows citizens to petition to form grand juries.
MARY KAY CULP Kansans for Life
But Tiller's attorneys questioned whether the practice is constitutional, suggesting that in
Thompson said. "The Supreme Court by ruling has clearly drawn the line on its unfettered operation."
The attorney general's office had no immediate
comment.
Abortion opponents were assessing the decision.
"On first glance, it looks like a good ruling," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. "We were afraid they were going to kill the rule of law along with the babies."
Sect leader arrested on sex charges
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA FE, N.M. — The leader of an apocalyptic sect was arrested Tuesday on sex charges and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, police said.
Authorities charged Wayne Bent with three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and three counts
Bent
of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, said Sgt. Bobbie Long of the Clayton Police Department.
Authorities did not say whether the charges were related to the recent removal of three children
— from the compound in an area near the Colorado line.
two girls and a boy, all under 18
Bent, who goes by the name of Michael Travesser and claims to be the Messiah, is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, which moved to the site in 2000. He was picked up Tuesday at the remote, former ranch where he and his followers live.
Bent, 66, was being held in the Union County Detention Center in Clayton, Long said.
site, he denied that there was any molestation of children or adults at the community, which Bent's followers call Strong City. A former member of the sect has estimated there are about 50 people on the compound. The three children removed last month are believed to have the only minors there.
A posting on the church's Web site attributed to Bent's grown son, Jeff Bent, said his father was arrested on "false charges."
Bent accused the state of kidnapping the children.
Bent has acknowledged having sex with followers — including his daughter-in-law — and lying naked with virgins. He said the virgins asked for sex, but he refused.
In a posting on the church's Web
A posting attributed to Bent on the church's Web site Monday said:
>> FEDERAL RESERVE
Bent had predicted the end of the world last Oct. 31.
"Jesus had not committed any crimes, so the authorities had to invent some crimes to crucify him over. It is the same for me also. I have committed no crimes, but many crimes are being imagined and concocted in the minds of men to try and kill me again."
Foreclosures hinder economy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A rising tide of late mortgage payments and home foreclosures poses considerable dangers to the national economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned anew Monday as he urged Congress to take additional steps to alleviate the problems.
"High rates of delinquency and foreclosure can have substantial spillover effects on the housing market, the financial markets and the broader economy," Bernanke said in a dinner speech to Columbia Business School in New York. "Therefore, doing what we can to avoid preventable foreclosures is not just in the interest of lenders and borrowers. It's in everybody's interest," he said.
Some 1.5 million U.S. homes entered into the foreclosure process last year, up 53 percent from 2006, Bernanke said. The rate of new foreclosures looks likely to be even higher this year, he said.
called on the two mortgage giants to quickly raise new capital.
To provide more relief, Bernanke again called on Congress to give the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages, more flexibility to help distressed borrowers at risk of losing their homes. He also again urged lawmakers to move ahead on legislation revamping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which finance mortgages. And, he
"Conditions in mortgage markets remain quite difficult," the Fed chief said.
House leaders plan action on those and other housing measures this week.
The reasons behind surging late payments and foreclosures can vary
and that needs to be taken into account when developing solutions, Bernanke said. For instance, parts of New England, states in the Great Lakes, including Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, show
missed payments into the principal balance, Bernanke said.
"A widespread decline in home prices, by contrast, is a relatively novel phenomenon, and lenders and servicers will have to develop new and flexible strategies to deal with this issue." Bernanke said.
The current housing crises have clobbered some borrowers
"Therefore, doing what we can to avoid preventable foreclosures is not just in the interest of lenders and borrowers."
BEN BERNANKE
Federal Reserve Chairman
increased mortgage delinquencies and "notable increases" in unemployment rates, he said.
California, Florida and parts of Colorado, on the other hand, saw delinquencies rise during a period when unemployment generally decreased but the value of homes declined, he said.
Mortgage companies are used to dealing with delinquencies related to life events, such as job loss or an illness, with the most common approaches being a temporary repayment plan or the folding of
home prices dropped. That left them with mortgages that are bigger than the value of their home. When that's the primary problem, Bernanke said the best solution may be reducing the
amount that the borrower owes on the loan or some other permanent modification to the loan.
Rising foreclosures add to the glut of unsold homes and that put more downward pressure on prices, aggravating the housing slump, he said. More rapid declines in house prices could have an "adverse impact" on the broader economy and the stability of the financial system, he said.
In his remarks, Bernanke did not talk about the interest rate policy or the state of the economy.
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To help bolster the economy, the Federal Reserve last Wednesday cut a key interest rate by one-quarter percentage point to 2 percent and strongly hinted that it may take a breather in its rate-cutting campaign that started last September.
The Fed hopes that its powerful series of rate cuts — its most aggressive in decades — along with the government's $168 billion stimulus package — including tax rebates that started flowing to bank accounts last week — will be sufficient to lift the country out of its slump in the second half of this year.
The mortgage meltdown started with problems with subprime mortgages — those made to people with tarnished credit.