Abortion doctor's killer uses sentencing as forum

A man who murdered one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions used his sentencing hearing as a forum to espouse his views in an effort to justify his crime, arguing that he had chosen to obey "God's law" to save babies.

Scott Roeder was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years, the longest sentence possible under Kansas law for first-degree murder. The 52-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man killed George Tiller as he was serving as an usher last May in the foyer of the doctor's church in Wichita.

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

Roeder also was sentenced to an additional year in prison on each of two counts of aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers as he fled. With time off for good behavior, Roeder won't be eligible for parole for 51 years and eight months.

An attorney for Tiller, speaking in court as a friend of the slain doctor, said the toughest sentence would discourage other anti-abortion zealots from attacking doctors. Tiller's widow, Jeanne, cried as the sentence for murder was announced.

"We only can hope that this sentence will serve as a deterrent to those who have conspired and continue to conspire to murder abortion providers," the Tiller family said in a statement. "Certainly everything possible should be done by the prison system to insure that this man does not continue to foment hatred and violence from his prison cell."

District Judge Warren Wilbert could have made Roeder eligible for parole on the murder charge after 25 years. But he said there was evidence Roeder stalked Tiller and added that killing him in a church made the crime heinous because a house of worship is meant to be "a place of peace and tranquility."

Roeder took the opportunity to describe abortion procedures in detail, which he had been prohibited from doing during his trial. Most abortions are legal in Kansas, and prosecutors were careful not turn the trial into a referendum on the issue.

Roeder accused Wilbert of "duplicity" and said his trial was a miscarriage of justice because he wasn't allowed to present testimony then about the evils of abortion. He also said God's judgment against the U.S. will "sweep over this land like a prairie wind."F ull story