Scott Roeder, convicted killer of Dr. George Tiller of Witchita, Kansas was sentenced to 50 years in prison yesterday. In that neck of the woods, it’s called ‘The Hard 50.’ He would not be eligible for parole until after 50 years. Roeder is 52 years old so he will probably died in prison. He sat quietly in court but has remained arrogant without remorse, according to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette.
This is a significantly dangerous man,” said Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who argued that Dr. Tiller’s murder was “an act of terrorism” committed by a man who, although perhaps “acting as a lone wolf, has been so affected by terrorist ideas and ideals.”
Not only did Mr. Roeder have no remorse for his crime, Ms. Foulston said, but he also “castigated” Dr. Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, for marrying the wrong man. Mr. Roeder has made many such pronouncements in the frequent interviews he has given journalists while in jail.
Dr. Tiller was shot during Sunday services in his Lutheran Church May 31, 2009. Dr. Tiller was an abortion provider. It took a jury under 40 minutes to convict Roeder of this murder. He could have received 25 years or the Hard 50. He was given the hard 50 because of the evidence of stalking Dr. Tiller before shooting him.
Dr. Tiller’s wife and his four children sat in the courtroom, as they did during Mr. Roeder’s trial, with one of their pastors.
Dr. Tiller’s longtime attorney, Lee Thompson, spoke for the Tillers, who urged county District Judge Warren Wilbert to impose the harshest possible sentence. The family, he said, considered the murder a hate crime.
“George Tiller was shot in the face while serving as an usher at his church,” Mr. Thompson said. “Why? Because he performed constitutionally protected legal medical services for women. … It’s as morally repugnant as any hate crime.”
Dr. Tiller was the fourth abortion doctor and the eighth person connected to an abortion clinic to be murdered for their work since 1993. His death left a void in the small community of doctors who perform late abortions, a tiny percentage of the estimated 1.2 million U.S. abortions each year. His family announced in June that they would close his clinic, Women’s Health Care Services.
Recently, in Albuquerque, N.M., Dr. Curtis Boyd announced he would begin performing late-term abortions, and said he had hired two California physicians who used to fly into Wichita for rotations at Dr. Tiller’s clinic.
It appears that Roeder will have a long time to think about what he has done. Regardless of how much a person disapproves of something, what possesses them to take matters into their own hands? Somewhere out there, Roeder is a hero to someone, just like convicted killer Paul Hill. That is too bad. There is nothing heroic about entering someone’s place of worship and putting a bullet in his head.
What makes a terrorist? Is a terrorist someone who kills or maims to express political beliefs? Is the desired outcome political change? If that is the case, then Roeder fills the bill. If shooting a person during worship services helps make the point, then Roeder is definitely a terrorist.
In Roeders’s sick mine, he probably sees himself as a martyr.
Would President Palin grant him a full pardon? I would not write him off for dead yet, if the theocrats take the Government, he could be considered more of a holy warrior doing his scripture bound duty. He could be pardoned and honored.
It’s scary how the definition of law changes in the hands of those sworn to uphold it.
it certainly makes that great mantra, Rule of Law a joke, doesn’t it, Rod?
Excellent point.
Elena, I expect all sorts of people secretly think Roeder is a martyr.
In Roeder you see something which the Secret Service and other protective agencies fear most: the “lone wolf.” If he is smart enough not to leave a trail on the web or elsewhere, he is almost impossible to detect until he makes his final move.
Excellent point, Wolverine. And how many more lone wolves are out there, waiting to strike, over what issue? The latest crew they captured were probably much easier than the lone wolves.