Happy Thanksgiving to me!

It has been a loooong 15 years spent entangled with Scott Roeder. There have been many ups and downs, twists and turns in that time. I thought this was all behind me after his initial sentencing at his first trial, but nooooo, the US Supreme Court had to hand down the ruling that only a jury is able to hand down "Hard 50" sentencing. In the end, it will be okay in my situation, because Scott probably doesn't have too much longer to be upright and above the ground. It was mentioned in the news article that he is having prostate problems, so my guess is that if they're mentioning it, then he more than likely has cancer. If he were human, I'd feel bad for him. Now, I can only hope that my daughter will be spared any chance of having to be exposed to him.

Man who killed abortion doctor gets more lenient sentence [Associated Press] ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated PressNovember 23, 2016

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man who seven years ago ambushed and fatally shot one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions was given a more lenient sentence Wednesday of at least 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. At a surprise resentencing hearing, prosecutors withdrew their request that Scott Roeder serve at least 50 years before parole eligibility. Roeder also was sentenced to an additional two years for aggravated assault for threatening two church ushers as he fled. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said that the decision not to seek the added time was reached by prosecutors after examining Roeder's health, his expected life span and the likelihood of whether he would ever be released from prison alive. The family of victim Dr. George Tiller also was consulted, he said. Roeder was convicted in January 2010 of premeditated first-degree murder for the shooting death of Tiller as he was serving as an usher in the foyer of the doctor's church in Wichita on May 31, 2009. Tiller's murder was among the most notorious acts of violence since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide in 1973. It alarmed the abortion rights community and came as numerous conservative states, including Kansas, passed restrictions making it harder for women to obtain abortions. The hearing Wednesday came just days before Roeder was set to go before a jury on Monday for what had been anticipated to be a two-week sentencing hearing. Roeder's original life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether to increase punishment. "I was really shocked about today," Roeder said in a prison phone call to The Associated Press after the hearing. "I was glad obviously to hear the sentence reduced, but I was looking forward to being another voice for the unborn — so I was disappointed in that respect." He said he knew the consequences of his actions going in and has "no regrets" because children have been saved because of him. Roeder, who suffers from prostate problems, looked much thinner than at his initial sentencing in 2010 and was subdued throughout the proceeding. He chose not to make a courtroom statement before the judge pronounced his sentence. That was in contrast to the previous sentencing hearing that Roeder used as a forum to espouse at length his anti-abortion views in an effort to justify his killing the doctor to save unborn babies. Bennett told reporters after the hearing that "rather than putting the community and the victim's family and witnesses through another contested hearing" in order to extend a 58-year-old inmate's parole eligibility from 25 to 50 years, the state decided to withdraw the request. He cited Roeder's declining health and doubts he would live long enough to ever get out of prison. Bennett said the decision was made "in the best interest" of the community and Tiller's family. Bennett also read a statement from Tiller's family saying nothing will change the fact Tiller was assassinated, and the family continues to grieve his loss. The family cited the "very difficult and emotionally draining trial" in which Roeder was found guilty, and thanked those involved for ensuring it was a fair trial. Tiller's family said they had decided to support the sentence of a minimum 25 years in prison without parole. "With this legal closure, the Dr. George Tiller family will continue to heal and thrive and live fully in our communities," their statement said. The abortion rights group Trust Women, which opened a clinic in 2013 in the same facility where Tiller once practiced, said in a statement its staff is grateful the doctor's family has some measure of closure and healing. Its founder, Julie Burkhart, said Roeder deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law. "Dr. Tiller's assassination most certainly left a hole in the reproductive rights movement, but we remain committed to this critical work in his honor and memory," Burkhart said. Defense attorney Mark Rudy said after the hearing that he thinks his client is relieved it is over, and no appeal is planned. The defense has already lost on every other appeal issue and this is the minimum sentence Roeder could hope to receive, he said. "We are glad we can put this to rest," Rudy said.

DA withdraws Hard 50 for Scott Roeder

Posted: Wed 8:44 AM, Nov 23, 2016 | Updated: Wed 10:28 PM, Nov 23, 2016 The Sedgwick County District Attorney has withdrawn the Hard 50 sentence against Scott Roeder. Marc Bennett asked a judge this morning to default Roeder to life in prison with a chance of parole in 25 years. Roeder was also sentenced to 24 months on three counts of aggravated battery, those would be added to the end of that 25 years. Roeder was sentenced to the Hard 50 in 2010 after being convicted of murdering Wichita abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller. That Hard 50 was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether to increase punishment. His re-sentencing trial was set to begin on Monday. Bennett says the decision was made after discussing with Tiller's family. He says the change in the sentence will spare the family, the community, the court system and the witnesses from another trial, which could last two to three weeks. After the hearing, Bennett read a statement from the family which read, in part: "There will be no further legal hearing or recourse afforded him. With this legal closure, the Dr. George Tiller family will continue to heal and thrive and live fully in our communities. We wish to convey our gratitude to all our friends and allies that have stood by Dr. Tiller and our family for many, many years." Bennett says, even with the new sentence, it is highly unlikely Roeder will ever get out of prison. Roeder will be 76 before he will see a parole board. Even if he's granted parole, he will still need to serve the additional 24 months. Some feel he deserved a harsher sentence. The Trust Women Foundation, which has continued Dr. Tiller's work by opening clinics that offer abortion care, released a statement saying in part, "There is not a day at our clinics that we don't remember Dr. Tiller and his dedication to women"..."The extremist who murdered Dr. Tiller deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law."

FBI releases heavily redacted documents pertaining to previous death threats against abortion provider George Tiller

Wichita — Federal authorities investigated numerous death threats over the years against a late-term abortion provider who was eventually shot to death, including a 1999 letter that claimed a group of militant abortion opponents meeting in Las Vegas paid a woman $25,000 to kill him.

Nothing came of that investigation and several others into threats against Dr. George Tiller, who was gunned down at his Wichita church in May 2009 by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder. The investigations were disclosed in 287 pages of documents released this week by the FBI under a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.

The documents released to the AP are heavily redacted and aren't related to Tiller's death. Nearly half of the pages in his FBI file remain secret, partly under rules that prohibit disclosure of grand jury proceedings.

Those documents mostly cover cases in which the U.S. attorney's office declined to prosecute or cases in which federal investigators could not identify suspects. Nearly all were more than a decade old.

As one of the few doctors in the nation to provide late-term abortions, Tiller had long been a target of both peaceful and violent protests. He was shot in both arms in 1993 by activist Rachel "Shelley" Shannon, and his clinic was bombed in 1996. The clinic has been closed since his death.

Among the documents released by the FBI were investigators' notes related to two letters written in 1999 by a woman who was later found to have mental problems. The woman wrote to her former husband in Arkansas City, telling him about a plot hatched in Las Vegas by a group calling itself the All Prayer Warriors. Investigators interviewed the woman, who said she had made up the group's name and never actually met with anyone when she was in Las Vegas about harming Tiller.

The U.S. attorney's office in Wichita, after reviewing the case, declined to prosecute her, the documents show. The FBI agent in charge of the case agreed with that decision.

Nonetheless, Tiller's lawyer requested that the doctor be provided with protection by the U.S. Marshals Service during July 1999 — the month when the woman's letter stated the doctor was to be assassinated. The documents do not indicate whether the doctor got the requested protection at that time, although the U.S. Marshals Service had at times provided him with such protection.

Tiller family attorney Lee Thompson declined to comment Monday on the FBI documents or authorities' handling of death threats against his slain client.

The FBI also investigated claims in November 1996 that an anti-abortion activist living in Milton told an inmate at a women's prison in Topeka that he planned to kill Tiller. It's unclear who the inmate or the visitor was because the FBI blacked out all names in the documents.

However, Shannon was in that prison at that time. And the inmate told the FBI the same activist visited her at the Sedgwick County Jail in 1993 — the same time Shannon was being held there for wounding Tiller.

Jay Greeno, the attorney who represented Shannon at her trial, said he was unaware of any FBI visits to Shannon while she was imprisoned in Topeka. Shannon is currently serving time in a federal prison in Minnesota after being convicted in a series of abortion clinic arsons and bombings.

Roeder testified during his murder trial that he visited Shannon when she was imprisoned in Topeka. However, his ex-wife, Lindsey Roeder, said she did not believe her ex-husband ever lived in Milton. Roeder is serving a life prison sentence.

The female inmate told FBI agents that the activist who visited her did not discuss a timetable or plan. She also said she didn't think the man was serious. The activist denied to FBI agents that he had considered killing Tiller, though he refused to undergo a polygraph.

The FBI closed its investigation after federal prosecutors said they considered "the matter hearsay, without foundation, and lacking prosecutive merit."

Other death threats the FBI investigated included that of a woman with a history of threatening Tiller who told a nurse at a Wichita hospital in 2000 that she planned "to finish the job" on the doctor. The U.S. attorney's office told her defense attorney it would prosecute the woman for her all of her threats — if she made another one.

Federal prosecutors also declined to prosecute a Navy veteran who walked into a Topeka veterans' hospital in 1999 and threatened to kill Tiller. He later told investigators he was not serious but made the threat in an effort to get treatment. In declining to charge him, the U.S. attorney's office said he was mentally unstable at the time.

Tiller's FBI file shows several other investigations in which no suspects were identified, such as a 1994 incident in which a grenade was left in a paper sack outside Tiller's clinic, a suspicious package made to look like a bomb in 1998 and anthrax hoax letters sent in 2002.