Dr. George Tiller was killed by Scott Roeder in the foyer of his Wichita church on May 31st. Roeder is charged with one count of first-degree murder in Tiller's death and two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers who tried to stop him. Roeder has pleaded not guilty; the trial is scheduled to begin in January.
Roeder told the AP that he killed Dr. George Tiller to protect innocent unborn children, saying "Because of the fact preborn children's lives were in imminent danger this was the action I chose. ... I want to make sure that the focus is, of course, obviously on the preborn children and the necessity to defend them. Defending innocent life — that is what prompted me. It is pretty simple."
Anti-abortion activist Dave Leach has been pushing Scott Roeder to use the so-called “necessity defense,” for months. That defense argues that a crime may be permissible if it is committed in order to avoid a much greater harm.
However, Margaret Raymond, a law professor at the University of Iowa told the Iowa Independent in August that the likelihood of a judge allowing this type of defense is small, and that it creates a problem for Roeder, in that he must confess to the murder.
“Typically, you don’t get to use that defense in murder cases. The problem with a necessity defense in this case is that it is hard to say that something that the law permits is an act that must be prohibited at the cost of death.”
The AP interview was over 30 minutes in length. During it, Roeder failed to show any remorse or regret. Roeder is likely to face life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors have already said they will not pursue the death penalty.
Posted November 9th, 2009 by Michael Santo
