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Murder conviction in Kansas abortion doctor's death
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 8, 2010
A Wichita, Kan., jury on Jan. 29 convicted Scott P. Roeder of first-degree murder in the May 2009 shooting death of George R. Tiller, MD. Roeder admitted in court testimony that he shot Dr. Tiller, who performed abortions, and had stalked him since 1999.
Roeder argued that the killing was justifiable because of his belief that abortion is always murder, but Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert would not allow the jury to consider conviction for a lesser crime. Wilbert instructed the jury, which reached its verdict in less than an hour, that its only choices were to convict Roeder of premeditated murder or find him not guilty.
Dr. Tiller, an ob-gyn, had long been a target of anti-abortion activists because he performed elective second-trimester abortions and offered second- and third-trimester therapeutic abortion care. Dr. Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services PA, was routinely picketed and was bombed in 1986. In August 1993, Dr. Tiller was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/02/08/prbf0208.htm.
