SALON

Thursday, Apr 1, 2010 11:21 PM UTC

Scott Roeder gets life for killing abortion doctor

52-year-old won't be eligible for parole for 50 years. He says shooting George Tiller saved lives of the unborn

By

Topics: Abortion,

Scott Roeder gets life for killing abortion doctorFILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 picture, Scott Roeder testifies at his trial in Wichita, Kansas. The convicted killer of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, has little sympathy for the family of his victim, comparing them to the relatives of a hit man in a recording posted online on Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 in his first public comments since his trial. (AP Photo/Jeff Tuttle, Pool)(Credit: Jeff Tuttle)

An anti-abortion zealot convicted of murdering a prominent Kansas abortion doctor was sentenced Thursday to life in prison and won’t be eligible for parole for 50 years — the maximum allowed by law.

Scott Roeder, 52, faced a mandatory life prison term for gunning down Dr. George Tiller in the back of Tiller’s Wichita church last May. Tiller was one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions.

Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert could have made the Roeder eligible for parole after 25 or 50 years, but gave him the harsher sentence because he said the evidence showed Roeder stalked Tiller before killing him.

Wilbert also sentenced Roeder to serve an additional year in prison on each of two counts of aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers in the melee. That means — allowing for possible time off those sentences for good behavior — Roeder won’t be eligible for parole for 51 years and eight months.

During his trial, Roeder testified that he killed Tiller in a bid to save unborn children.

In a rambling statement in court Thursday, Roeder blamed Tiller’s death primarily on the state for not outlawing abortion.

“I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby. Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller,” Roeder said.

Roeder also took the opportunity to describe abortion procedures in detail, which he was previously forbidden from doing during the trial. Abortion is legal in Kansas, and prosecutors were careful not turn the trial into a referendum on abortion.

Roeder interrupted Wilbert several times as the judge discussed the sentence from the bench.

When Wilbert read from a previous court decision saying that allowing vigilantism would promote chaos, Roeder said, “Baby murder is anarchy and chaos.”

As he being led away in handcuffs after the sentencing, Roeder shouted, “Blood of innocent babies on your hands.”

He read a long statement that included details of abortion procedures, but 40 minutes into his remarks, Wilbert stopped Roeder as he was about to publicly attack District Attorney Nola Foulston.

More Roxana Hegeman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 24 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations