No charges will be filed against the Kansas Attorney General’s Office or a former assistant AG over the destruction of abortion records.

In a news release, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said his office, and the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department, thoroughly investigated the matter after Attorney General Derek Schmidt requested an independent probe.

Taylor says evidence showed that the destroyed records, so-called “Termination of Pregnancy” reports, were trial copies, and that the AG’s office has other copies in its possession. Taylor says no crime was committed, and no charges will be filed.

The initial allegations centered around former Assistant Attorney General Barry Disney, who was interviewed during the investigation. Taylor says the TOP reports destroyed by Disney were copies of state health department records subpoenaed for court proceedings against the late Dr. George Tiller. The Wichita abortion provider was acquitted. Taylor says the destruction of trial copies after the acquittal was conducted in the same fashion it would have been done for any other records in any other criminal case which resulted in an acquittal.

The investigation revealed that copies of those destroyed records remain in the custody of the KAG today.

Taylor says none of the records destroyed in April, 2009 were originals, authenticated, or in any way connected with Planned Parenthood of Kansas.