Scott Roeder sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for 52 years

BY RON SYLVESTER

The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA — Judge Wilbert sentenced Scott Roeder to life with the Hard 50 for the first-degree murder of abortion provider George Tiller.

Wilbert also sentenced Roeder to 12 months on each count to run consecutive for the aggravated assault of Gary Hoepner and Keith Martin, the men Roeder pointed the gun at after he shot Tiller.

Wilbert told Roeder he can earn a 15 percent good time credit and has 10 days to file an appeal. Wilbert said if Roeder lives past 102, then gets parole, he also faces lifetime supervision after his release.

Roeder yelled "The blood of babies is on your hands, Nola Foulston ... And Ann Swegle," as guards quickly ushered him out of court.

Afterward, District Attorney Nola Foulston spoke outside of the courthouse.

''This was an act of terrorism, an act of brutality,'' Foulston said. 'It was abundantly clear this was an individual who chose to follow a path of lawlessness.''

''This was a difficult case,'' Foulston added. 'The difficulty was apparent from the emotion that rang across the courtroom, ...across our community and across the world."

"I have to say, Scott Roeder has no regrets and neither do I.," Foulston said. "As I listened to Mr Roeder, it confirmed my belief he is a person who should not be in our community."

Earlier, Judge Wilbert reviewed documents that Scott Roeder wished to read before the court. Wilbert said part of it was not relevant to the hearing. He noted and accepted the rest.

"I will accept them and seal them and they will be part of the record," Wilbert said. That way appeals courts can decide if it all should have been presented in open court, the judge said. He asked if Roeder if he had anything further to say.

"As for the Hard 50, I don't think I deserve that," Roeder said. Wilbert then read the law to Roeder on the aggravating factor he decided.

Roeder spoke about shooting Tiller at a church. "They were not holding Tiller accountable for his sins. Reformation Lutheran was not a true church," he said. Roeder then began to talk about members and pastors of the church. Judge Wilbert shut him down once again.

"It only takes one or two sentences to say I didn't believe it was a holy place ... The rest is just political diatribe," Wilbert said. After Roeder said he wanted to address expectant mothers, Wilbert stopped him again, saying, "I'm not going to provide you with an all-night political forum."

Public defender Mark Rudy argued mitigating factors against the Hard 50 are lack of criminal history and Roeder had an impaired capacity to conform his conduct to the law. "We believe those two factors outweigh the aggravating circumstances," Rudy said.

Ann Swegle argued for the prosecution, "He doesn't of the law of the God he says he follows. That says do not kill."

Earlier, Scott Roeder read a written statement for 40 minutes in his sentencing hearing today, before Judge Wilbert stopped him, saying "It is your opportunity to convince me you need a lesser sentence. It is not a soapbox for your political views."

Steve Osburn, Roeder's public defender, asked the judge if Roeder could continue. "This is what he believes. This is what he thinks you need to decide on a sentence," Osburn said.

After Roeder spoke off his notes, Wilbert responded "You killed Dr. Tiller. You're not going to politically assassinate Nola Foulston. I'm going to draw the line there."

"If you would follow a higher power, you would acquit me," Roeder said.

"If you think you're going to convince me with some last-minute plea, you're wasting your time," Wilbert responded. Wilbert said Roeder should focus on the Hard 50. That's the only decision left today.

Osburn objected to the court stopping Roeder's right to speak. Wilbert said he hadn't stopped Roeder; he had offered guidance.

"We have 10 abortion providers or less and 50 million who have perished at their hands," Roeder said in the statement.

He added, "How is it a man can speak openly and freely at his sentencing but not at his trial?"

"This court stifled my testimony," he continued.

"The blame for George Tiller's death lies more with the state of Kansas, than with me. You may sentence me to 25 or 50 years in prison but it does not serve justice in any way."

Roeder then read from a book by Paul Hill, who killed a Fla. doctor. "I agree with Paul Hill wholeheartedly." "God will avenge every drop of blood that stains Kansas grass," he continued. Roeder quoted the 10 Commandments and other Old Testament scripture.

"Give me liberty to defend the unborn or give me death," Roeder said.

Roeder has been convicted in the death Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

Before Roeder read his statement, psychologist George Hough from Topeka was cross-examined.

Prosecutor Ann Swegle asked the psychologist if Roeder "could act on his own free will?"

"Yes," Hough replied.

Swegle later asked Hough, "Doesn't God say not to kill?"

Roeder then blurted out, "To protect unborn babies. I can't just sit here anymore." Deputies all stepped a little closer.

Judge Wilbert threatened to remove Roeder from the courtroom until it is his turn to talk if he doesn't remain silent.

"I have already said I will have to give you broad latitude," Wilbert said.

A jury found Roeder guilty of first-degree murder after only 37 minutes of deliberations on Jan. 29 in the May 2009 killing of Tiller in the foyer of his Wichita church.

During examination by the defense, Hough said that Roeder began to obsess about abortion.

"He described an increasing sense of urgency to take action," he said.

"He saw himself as a foot soldier," Hough said, and used a lot of war imagery in the way he talked about it.

Hough also said that Roeder idolized Paul Hill, who was executed for killing an abortion doctor in Florida.

Roeder said that Tiller's church was the only place the doctor was vulnerable, Hough said.

"He felt justified, Hough said. "He didn't feel guilty. He felt he had done what he'd needed to do for a long time."

"He said there was a higher law," he said. "God's law over man's law."

Hough met with Roeder twice last summer for five hours each in the county jail.

"My assessment was he was (mentally) competent," Hough said.

This afternoon, the court heard from a string of people who served as character witnesses on Roeder's behalf.

David Leach from Iowa, the fourth person to speak on Roeder's behalf, said that Roeder is a smart guy who has been maligned in the press and by his ex-wives.

Regina Dinwiddie of Kansas City was the third person to speak as a character witness for Roeder.

"I've never known him to swear or lie," she said, adding that he was polite to all the women who protested at the abortion clinic.

"He never uttered a threat," Dinwiddie said.

"Scott is not a vengeful man. He is a compassionate man," he said.

Katherine Coons, the second person to speak on Roeder's behalf, told the court, "This was not a hate crime. He just had a heart for the babies."

Eugene Frye, the first speaker, said he's known "and prayed with" Roeder since the 1990s.

"Everyone I've talked to about Scott said he was never threatening or mean spirited to them," said Frye, who quoted Bible scripture about Roeder's anti-abortion beliefs.

"Not one time did I ever hear him speak of violence to anyone," he said.

Frye said that the first time he saw Roeder upset was after a jury found Tiller not guilty of misdemeanor charges a couple of months before his death.

"My plea is you consider these ... and impose the lesser sentence," Frye said.

Earlier in this morning's proceedings, Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert analyzed the law and the arguments.

Wilbert next will hear mitigating factors from the defense. These are the reasons the defense believes the crime worthy of less serious punishment.

If mitigating factors do not outweigh aggravating factors, the Hard 50 will be applicable.

Wilbert only has to find one aggravating factor to warrant the Hard 50 for Roeder. That is a sentence of life without parole for at least 50 years. That would essentially preclude parole for Roeder.

Wilbert said he does consider the shooting in the church as heinous.

"He didn't kill him in the parking lot," he said. "He didn't go early enough to get him going into the church."

Roeder choose to kill Tiller in the very place that abhors violence, Wilbert said.

Wilbert found that Roeder's killing of Tiller did not provide a threat to more than one person.

The threat to others did not occur simultaneously to the killing, as required under the law, he said. Those were separate threats, and Roeder was convicted of those assault charges, Warren said.

The deceased doesn't have to feel pain to meet the heinous, atrocious and cruel standard, he said.

And the law does provide for previous stalking. There is ample evidence Roeder stalked Tiller, Warren said.

The law also provides for prior planning, he said.

Public defender Mark Rudy argued that there are no aggravating factors that warrant the Hard 50 for Roeder.

Rudy said that the public defenders offer condolences to the Tiller family.

"But today, I'm going to ask you to follow the law," he said.

Rudy said that the law contemplates that the person suffered.

"That didn't happen, here, thank God," Rudy said, adding that Tiller probably died instantly.

Rudy said that the legislature and appeals courts have been clear: not all killings are heinous, atrocious and cruel. Otherwise, he said, all first-degree murder could be classified as Hard 50 cases.

Rudy said that Roeder testified he placed the gun to Tiller's head because he wanted to make sure no one else was hurt.

"(The church) was a place of opportunity", not an attempt to harm anyone else, Rudy said.

He added, "I will stipulate (Roeder) has no remorse. He should get the maximum." That is life in prison without the Hard 50.

Before a short morning recess, District Attorney Nola Foulston asked Wilbert to impose the Hard 50.

"This person presents a clear and present danger," Foulston said of Roeder.

If Roeder ever gets out of prison, he will be under lifetime supervision of a parole officer, Wilbert said.

Attorney Lee Thompson said that Tiller's family supports the Hard 50.

Foulston presented arguments for the Hard 50 and outlined aggravating circumstances required by law.

Because Roeder shot him in his church, he put other people in harm's way, Foulston said.

That is enough to ask the court to consider this murder "especially cruel, heinous and atrocious."

Roeder's stalking of Tiller over months and years also is recognized by law as a supporting factor, Foulston said.

Foulston recounted Roeder's repeated visits to Tiller's church with a gun. "Each time was a criminal act" that the court may consider.

During her rebuttal, Foulston said, "(Roeder) believed he was on a mission and his mission was righteous."

"When a crime is planned as a political or terrorist assassination ... that type of case is different (from other murders)," she said.

He wants his constitutional rights, but he ended Dr. Tiller's constitutional right to perform abortion, Foulston said.

At this morning's sentencing, Thompson gave a statement on behalf of the Tiller family.

"We aren't dealing with free speech or the right of expression in this case," Thompson said. "(Roeder) has committed an act of terrorism."

He said it is an act of terrorism characterized by Roeder's boasting about the crime.

This is a hate crime deserving of the maximum sentence under the law, Thompson said.

At the beginning of his address, Thompson talked about Tiller's love for his family.

"George Tiller was known as an abortion doctor .. But he was so much more than that," Thompson said.

"This man did nothing halfway. He was never a halfway father."

Thompson said that he never stopped being active in his children's lives.

"They are desperately sorry and grieving over his loss," he said.

"This murder has extinguished this family devotion," Thompson said.

Thompson said that Tiller, a devoted grandfather to 10, daily wore a button that said "Attitude is everything".

He also talked about Tiller's medical career. He was a caring physician who received thousands of letters from patients who came to him in the most difficult part of their lives, Thompson said.

"The impact of this crime is felt on the medical profession far beyond Wichita," he said. "He gave his life for the rights of women."

During Thompson's address, Roeder stared, not looking at Thompson or the family.

At the beginning of this morning's proceedings, Wilbert reminded spectators about courtroom decorum. He said that any outbursts would be treated as contempt.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/04/01/1249310/roeder-to-be-sentenced-thursday.html#ixzz0jtdfvk6H