Wichita ? Kansas Attorney General Steve Six defended the prosecution of Dr. George Tiller on Thursday, arguing in court papers that alleged misconduct earlier in the investigation of the Wichita abortion provider doesn’t merit dismissing the case.

Tiller is charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of breaking a 1998 state law requiring that a second, independent Kansas physician sign off on most late-term abortions. Prosecutors allege there was a financial relationship between Tiller and the Nortonville physician on whom he relied for independent opinions, Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus.

The prosecution originated with an investigation by then-Attorney General Phill Kline and Eric Rucker, an attorney in Kline’s office, and continued after Democrat Paul Morrison defeated Kline in the 2006 election and became attorney general.

Tiller’s lawyers filed a 154-page motion last month asking Sedgwick County District Judge Clark Owens to suppress evidence or dismiss the charges. In a separate statement, Six said, “This is not about the propriety of the Kline administration’s action, it is about whether the whole case should be thrown out.”

Defense attorney Dan Monnat said in a statement he was confident Six will eventually see that rather than waste taxpayer money, the proper disposition of the “political prosecution” is dismissal.

Owens set aside the week of Nov. 17 to hear evidence before making a decision on the defense’s dismissal request.