Abortion doctor's killer prepares to tell court that he was right
Supporters and opponents shocked by judge's decision to allow the gunman to make an unprecedented defence in court
The body of Dr George Tiller is removed from the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. Photograph: Orlin Wagner/AP
The tense standoff in America between extreme anti-abortion protesters and doctors who provide abortions has been ruptured by a judge's ruling in Kansas that the killer of a doctor will be allowed to argue in court that he believed he was justified in trying to save unborn children.
Under the ruling, Scott Roeder, 51, would become the first killer of an abortion doctor in US history to be allowed to present his belief in the justification of violence to the courts. He has been charged with murder after shooting George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas in May last year.
The ruling spread dismay among abortion clinics across the US and warnings that it would encourage further violence. Anti-abortionists, however, hailed the decision as a step to natural justice.
Judge Warren Wilbert dismissed prosecution objections and refused to bar Roeder from presenting to the jury his belief in the legitimacy of violence.
Tiller was one of just a handful of doctors in America who provide abortions in later stages of pregnancy, after 21 weeks. The procedures were legal, but became the target of attacks. His clinic was bombed in 1986 and he was shot in both arms in 1993. Tiller was killed with a shot to the head inside his church.
Roeder confessed to the shooting, saying last November: "Defending innocent life – that is what prompted me."
Before Christmas, Wilbert rejected Roeder's attempt to present a "necessity defence", in which he would have argued that he was justified in pulling the trigger because by stopping abortions he acted for the good of society. But last week he said he would permit a defence that would allow Roeder to tell the court why he believed his actions were justified.
Roeder would be permitted to argue that he should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge, which carries a sentence of just five years as opposed to life in prison for murder. He would have to prove that he had honestly believed that violence against Tiller had been justified, no matter that his belief had been utterly unreasonable.
"This is absolutely insane," said Charlotte Taft, director of the Abortion Care Network, which represents about 70 independent clinics. She said her members were "highly afraid" that a courtroom diatribe by Roeder could spark copycat acts.
Roeder's witnesses include Phill Kline, a former Kansas attorney general who had previously aggressively investigated Tiller. Roeder's defence team has also subpoenaed the clinic's calendars, appointment books and scheduled procedures.
Jeanne Tiller's lawyer, Lee Thompson, argues this is a gross violation of the privacy of the women who used the clinic.
In legal papers, Thompson has also ridiculed the idea that Roeder should be allowed to plead voluntary manslaughter, saying it was equivalent to permitting a terrorist to argue in court that they believed they were duty bound to kill a soldier to protect civilians dying in Iraq.
Anti-abortionists have hailed the ruling as a triumph. In 2003, Paul Hill was executed for murdering a doctor in Pensacola, Florida. His lawyer, Michael Hirsh, tried unsuccessfully to persuade the courts to hear Hill's self-justification. Hirsh is known to have advised Roeder.
Shelley Shannon, who shot Tiller in 1993 and is in prison for arson attacks on abortion clinics, is one of several extremist anti-abortion activists who have called for a renewed wave of violence on the back of Roeder's trial, scheduled to begin tomorrow.
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