A preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to try Planned Parenthood and its Overland Park clinic with 107 criminal counts was delayed today by a Johnson County District Court judge.

Both District Attorney Phill Kline and Planned Parenthood attorney Pedro Irigonegaray agreed to the continuance. The preliminary hearing had originally been scheduled for May 27 and 28. It has been re-scheduled for July 21 and 22.

The delay will allow the Kansas Supreme Court to determine whether abortion records that are considered key evidence in the criminal case were legally obtained by Kline when he served as Attorney General and then transferred by Kline to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office when he became D.A. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in that case by June 27.

Kline said he received the records, which contain no information that would allow an abortion recipient to be identified, with permission from Shawnee County District Court Judge Richard Anderson, who oversaw the case when Kline was Attorney General. Anderson also authorized the transfer of the documents to the District Attorney’s Office.

In previous court testimony, Anderson has indicated that the information on the documents supplied by Planned Parenthood appeared to have been "manufactured." Anderson also testified with regard to the records that “returning evidence to Planned Parenthood as requested by the Attorney General would unacceptably increase the risk that evidence could be lost, destroyed or compromised.” The judge added that it was “difficult to understand how this could benefit the citizens of Kansas.”

Kline subpoenaed Anderson to testify in the criminal case against Planned Parenthood. However, the Attorney General’s Office intervened and asked the Kansas Supreme Court to forbid such testimony. The Supreme Court complied.

Kline responded with a motion filed this morning to intervene in that case to allow Anderson’s testimony to proceed (see related article).

Kline said the Supreme Court’s order to defy a legal subpoena was unprecedented in his experience.

“I’ve never heard of a case where a witness with relevant information in a case in which probable cause has been found has been ordered not to testify in a criminal proceeding,” Kline said in a press conference following the hearing on the continuance.