Roeder Convicted Of First-Degree Murder In Shooting Of Abortion Provider Tiller

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Abortion
Article Date: 02 Feb 2010 - 2:00 PDT

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After 37 minutes of deliberation, Sedgwick County, Kan., jurors found Scott Roeder guilty of first-degree murder for the shooting of abortion provider George Tiller in his church last May, the Chicago Tribune reports (Abcarian, Chicago Tribune, 1/30). Prosecutor Nola Foulston said she would seek to ensure that Roeder remain in prison for 50 years, though a lighter sentence could allow eligibility for parole after 25 years. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 9. Jurors also convicted Roeder of two counts of aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers who chased him as he fled.

During closing arguments Friday, Mark Rudy -- an attorney for Roeder -- told the jury that "no one should be convicted based on his convictions" and compared Roeder to leaders who took powerful positions based on their beliefs, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Prosecutors countered that Roeder "was simply guilty of the crime he has been charged with" and urged jurors to use their "common sense" to find Roeder guilty of a "planned assassination" (Sudekum Fisher, AP/WJLA News, 1/30).

Appeal Planned

Roeder's attorneys plan to appeal the verdict, arguing that the jury should have been allowed to consider a conviction on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, which would have allowed them to find that Roeder possessed a sincere but unreasonable belief that deadly force was justified (Hegeman, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/31). Judge Warren Wilbert, presiding over the trial, initially indicated that he might allow the jury to consider the lesser charge but ultimately allowed only consideration of the first-degree murder charge (Davey, New York Times, 1/30). Wilbert's decision not to allow consideration of the manslaughter charge -- which typically carries a five-year prison sentence -- "has stalled the use of voluntary manslaughter arguments to win lesser verdicts in future cases involving the killings of abortion doctors," the Christian Science Monitor reports (Guarino, Christian Science Monitor, 1/29).

After the verdict, Tiller's widow, Jeanne, released a statement saying, "At this time we hope that George can be remembered for his legacy of service to women, the help he provided for those who needed it and the love and happiness he provided us as a husband, father and grandfather."

Advocates React

Abortion-rights advocates welcomed the conviction. "While the verdict won't bring back Dr. Tiller, it was very important justice was done today for the safety and security of other abortion providers across the country and women's ability to access abortion care," Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said. She said she hoped the verdict would serve as a "deterrent to those that are considering following in Roeder's footsteps" (AP/WJLA News, 1/30). Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement, "Today, justice was served for Dr. Tiller, his family and abortion providers who live in fear of physical attacks, harassment and intimidation every day" (Chicago Tribune, 1/30).

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, praised the jury for its verdict and called on the Department of Justice to investigate antiabortion-rights advocates who use violence. O'Neill said NOW could share information to "help shut down this conspiracy to deny women their fundamental right to abortion through violence and the threat of violence" (Christian Science Monitor, 1/29). Katherine Spillar of the Feminist Majority Foundation also suggested that Roeder was part of a larger network of violent activists. "Our only hope ... is that a thorough and rigorous investigation will be conducted into whether or not this murder was part of a conspiracy to kill Dr. Tiller and to kill other doctors and clinic workers around the country" (Chicago Tribune, 1/30). DOJ has said it is investigating Roeder's possible ties to other antiabortion-rights extremist groups.

The trial created divisions in the antiabortion-rights movement, the New York Times reports. Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which is headquartered in Wichita, Kan., said Roeder's confession was "cold, calculated and despicable," adding, "Pro-life is a vibrant, relevant movement in America. Scott Roeder is not." However, Operation Rescue's founder Randall Terry -- who is in a legal dispute with Newman over the use of the organization's name -- denounced the trial as a "scam" because he felt Roeder had not been allowed to "really tell his side of the story" (New York Times, 1/30).

According to the Tribune, the conclusion of the trial "brings a kind of closure to the city of Wichita, which became a center of the antiabortion movement in the late 1980s and 1990s" (Chicago Tribune, 1/30). Tiller, who grew up in Wichita, began providing abortions there in the 1970s and endured several attacks, including a 1993 shooting that wounded him in both arms. The clinic was closed by his family after his murder (New York Times, 1/30).

Multimedia Coverage

NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" included a discussion with NPR correspondent Kathy Lohr, who had been covering the trial, about the future of the antiabortion movement in Wichita, the possibility of a DOJ investigation and the sentencing (Cornish, "Weekend Edition Saturday," NPR, 1/30).

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