The Arizona Supreme Court has decided that the jury will be barred from learning three crucial pieces of evidence against abortionist John Biskind. Biskind is on trial for manslaughter in the death Lou Ann Herron, of an abortion patient who bled to death under his care in 1998.

The Court simply barred prosecutors from informing the jury about previous disciplinary actions the Board of Medical Examiners had taken against Biskind. The Court issued no comment on the decision, simply letting stand Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Wildinson's conclusion that the information would confuse the jury and prejudice them against Biskind. But then, any evidence that Biskind knew his acts might endanger the patient would tend to prejudice a jury against him.

According to the Arizona Star, the excluded pieces of evidence are:

* A "letter of concern" from the Board of Medical Examiners to Biskind over his failure to appropriately diagnose how far along another woman was with her pregnancy and failing to provide follow-up.

* Another letter from the board about Biskind's possible abandonment of a patient after a cut to her uterus.

* A censure by the board alleging Biskind was guilty of gross or repeated negligence that resulted in harm to or death of a patient.

Gerald Grant, Deputy County Attorney for Maricopa County, believes Biskind intends to argue that his acts leading to the death were "merely negligent, not criminally negligent or reckless." Grant argued that the information about the previous run-ins with the medical board were necessary to demonstrate that Biskind was aware of a "substantial and unjustifiable risk that his conduct would cause the death of another, and consciously disregarded that risk."

Grant said that although Lou Ann was bleeding heavily, Biskind left the clinic and another employee, Carol Stuart-Schadoff, would not let an assistant summon an ambulance for the moribund patient.

Biskind's previous run-ins with the medical board involved trying to abort a near-term infant and allowing another patient, Lisa Bardsley, to die.

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