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News & ArtsFriday, January 29, 2010
News Guilty
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 9:20 AM
The man who killed Dr. George Tiller:
In a trial that never became the referendum on abortion that some abortion foes wanted, Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old airport shuttle driver, was convicted today of murdering George Tiller, one the nation's few physicians who performed late-term abortions.The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for only 37 minutes. Roeder faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder. ...
Roeder had wanted to claim the crime was justifiable homicide, based on his belief that abortion — in every case — is murder. But Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert said he could not claim he acted out of necessity. Abortion rights groups became alarmed when Roeder's attorneys asked the judge to allow the jury to consider convicting Roeder of voluntary manslaughter. At the end of testimony Thursday, Wilbert ruled that the jury could only consider premeditated, first-degree murder.
5
See? Terrorists can receive a trial by jury in America! Why isn't Fox News praising the successful conviction of a domestic terrorist?
6
Wow, that was fast. Of course, he confessed to committing the murder. Still, it's nice to see that, even in the middle of the Bible Belt, nobody fell for his bullshit.
13
this was just roeder's testimony - the trial's not over. & by limiting it to premeditated 1st degree only, the judge opened a perfect avenue for roeder walking. no 2nd degree, no voluntary manslaughter, no involuntary manslaughter. all or nothing is soooper risky.
let's hope the kansas jury remembers that abortion is a legal procedure and that tiller was not a criminal. kansas hasn't proved anything is right yet.
let's hope the kansas jury remembers that abortion is a legal procedure and that tiller was not a criminal. kansas hasn't proved anything is right yet.
16
@8: Why would they choose to hear it? This isn't about the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade - no matter what you think about our Supreme Court, I really doubt they'd want to establish the precedent that murdering a doctor to "protect the babies" deserves a lighter sentence.
18
@5 "Why isn't Fox News praising the successful conviction of a domestic terrorist?"
They're still too busy being angry at Obama for something-or-other...
They're still too busy being angry at Obama for something-or-other...
21
The guy confessed to actions that were undeniably murder 1 and only plead not-guilty to try and have the jury find him not guilty by justification. It failed. There was argument that what he did was anything of a lesser nature, only that he felt he did what was right. I fail to see what would could possibly be used as a legal argument for appeal. Arguing that manslaughter should have been included under charges would be hard when he admitted to action defined as murder.
22
So we'll see an apology from Jenn Graves who helped to further disseminate useless rhetoric from an uninformed article in Slate about Judge Wilbert because he made the - gasp - choice to examine the case from every angle to ensure he wouldn't be overruled and forced to watch the man walk on his watch.
I guess not. It's only fun to yell at judges, never fun to give them credit for being really good at their job.
Slate is utterly useless, I expected better of you slog.
I guess not. It's only fun to yell at judges, never fun to give them credit for being really good at their job.
Slate is utterly useless, I expected better of you slog.
25
I'm sure the "Free Roeder" T-shirts are already printed. The crazy evangelical right will call him a "political prisoner" for the foreseeable future.
Maybe that'll cheer him up when he's still in prison at 85 years of age.
Maybe that'll cheer him up when he's still in prison at 85 years of age.
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