Probe Finds No Nationwide Conspiracy Against Clinics

After 16 months, a federal grand jury has found no evidence of a nationwide conspiracy of violence against abortion clinics, ending an inquiry the Clinton administration began after a series of attacks on clinic employees, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday.

Justice Department and other sources said prosecutors soon would disband the jury, which was impaneled in Alexandria, Va., after a clinic doctor and a volunteer escort were shot and killed in July 1993 in Pensacola, Fla. That incident had culminated nearly a decade of firebombing and other crimes against clinics across the country.

The decision to end the investigation brought the freedom of a Maryland woman who was jailed in November for refusing to testify before the grand jury. Cheryl Richardson, 33, was released Wednesday evening from the Alexandria jail after an order by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said her testimony no longer was needed. Her release, and the imminent shutdown of the grand jury, stirred jubilation among supporters who had blasted the investigation as a political witch hunt.

“I am thrilled that Cheryl Richardson has been released,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, executive director of the Christian Defense Coalition. “She was being held as a political prisoner. Here is one woman who stood up to the federal government and won.”

Katherine Spillar, national coordinator for the Feminist Majority Foundation, said in Los Angeles that she believed Justice Department officials would continue to press the investigation, saying clinic workers remain in jeopardy.