All eyes will be on Wichita for the trial of Scott Roeder By JUDY L. THOMAS The Kansas City Star

All eyes will be on Wichita for the trial of Scott Roeder

By JUDY L. THOMAS

The Kansas City Star

As the murder trial gets under way Monday for the man accused of gunning down Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, the world will be watching.

“This is a very, very high-profile trial,” said Kirk Longhofer, media coordinator for Sedgwick County District Court. “We’ve had as much, if not more, inquiry from national and even international media as any of the other big cases that have been tried here in the past 10 years.”

Remember, that includes the trial of the BTK serial killer.

Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, is charged with first-degree murder in the May 31 shooting death of Tiller inside his church. Roeder also faces two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers.

Jury selection begins Monday and is expected to take from two days to a week. More than 60 prospective jurors will show up in court Monday.

And a surprise decision by Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert virtually assures that the trial will thrust Wichita even more in the spotlight.

The judge said Friday that he will allow the defense to present testimony that Roeder acted “upon an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.”

That means jurors could have the option of finding Roeder guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a much lighter sentence than first-degree murder.

The decision opens the door for the defense to offer at least some testimony about abortion. Prosecutors had intended for the trial to be a straightforward murder case and did not want it to evolve into an abortion debate.

Longhofer has received media credential requests from more than 100 journalists. And that’s in a courtroom with fewer than 40 seats for everyone, so most reporters will sign up for a lottery system.

“In Session” is airing the trial, which can be seen on the TruTV cable network from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The high-profile nature of the case, with the contentious abortion issue as a backdrop, has law enforcement officials on heightened alert. Courthouse security is being beefed up, complete with bomb-sniffing dogs provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We’re planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” said Sedgwick County Sheriff Bob Hinshaw. “I can’t give out any details, but I can tell you that our security measures will be appropriate for a high-profile trial like this.”

Wichita has had its share of headline-grabbing cases, including the BTK killer, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to 10 murders; the Carr brothers, who were sentenced to death for killing four people in 2000; and the March trial of Tiller on misdemeanor charges.

Indeed, Hinshaw said, sheriff’s officers have had so much experience that they have provided court security training to other law enforcement agencies across the state.

Security efforts probably will include keeping tabs on those who show up for the trial. Supporters of Roeder planning to attend include two activists who did prison time for clinic arsons and bombings, a man who published an Army of God manual — a how-to book on clinic violence — and the man who runs the Army of God Web site, which describes Roeder as an “American hero.”

Legal tactics

Legal experts and people on both sides of the abortion issue will be closely monitoring the trial.

Some abortion opponents hope the trial will become a vehicle for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Abortion-rights advocates, however, fear the trial will become a rallying cry for anti-abortion extremists to commit more violence against doctors and clinics.

“There is nothing good that comes out of people who believe it’s appropriate to murder doctors spending time together at a trial and figuring out who they should target next, encouraging each other to commit further acts of violence and celebrating this horrible murder,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. “They’ve been communicating with Roeder; they’re communicating with each other at a high-pitch level. And they’re celebrating what they have been trying to do for more than a decade.”

Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said it’s not unreasonable to worry that an act of violence could be spurred by the trial. In 1994, she said, Paul Hill attended the trial of the woman who shot and wounded Tiller, publicly supporting her and saying the shooting was justified. Three months later, Hill killed an abortion doctor and his bodyguard in Florida.

Michael Bray, an activist from Ohio who has been communicating with Roeder, called such an accusation “nothing but a piece of slander.”

Bray, who plans to be at the trial, hopes instead that the trial will change the way the country looks at abortion.

“I hope, of course, that Mr. Roeder is acquitted, that he is vindicated, and I hope that the nation focuses upon the real issue here,” said Bray, who served time in prison in the 1980s for a series of clinic bombings. “And that is, why does a man throw his life away for the sake of others?”

Kansas City anti-abortion activist Regina Dinwiddie said she and her mother wouldn’t dream of missing the trial.

“If Scott’s public defenders would really get on fire for this and put the truth about Tiller’s practice in the record, this trial has the potential to overturn Roe versus Wade,” she said.

Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines, said he’s eager to attend the trial.

“This is very significant because, both in the courtroom and in the blogosphere, one hears continually, ‘There can be no defense for shooting Dr. Tiller to stop him from performing a legal, constitutionally protected service,’” Leach said. “Any defense that comes anywhere near stripping away that rationale will change the whole dynamic of abortion discussion, both in the newsroom and in the courtroom.”

Confession

Roeder confessed to killing Tiller in a Nov. 9 interview with The Kansas City Star, saying he had no regrets because “preborn children were in imminent danger.”

In an interview Monday from the Sedgwick County Jail, Roeder said he did not want to talk about the upcoming trial.

“I don’t think it would be good for me to comment right now,” he said.

But in the Nov. 9 interview, Roeder said he planned to use a so-called necessity defense at his trial, arguing that he killed Tiller to save the lives of unborn babies. Other anti-abortion activists charged with violent acts have tried to use such a defense, but with little success.

Judge Wilbert has banned Roeder from using that defense, saying that it isn’t recognized under Kansas law. But Wilbert said Friday that he would leave the door open for arguments that Roeder was acting on an unreasonable but honest belief that deadly force is necessary to save lives — one of the definitions of voluntary manslaughter.

The prosecution has more than 200 people on its witness list, including dozens of law enforcement officers, witnesses who identified Roeder at a previous hearing as the person who shot Tiller, several of Roeder’s family members and some activists who have been in contact with Roeder in jail.

The defense witness list has not been made public, but the defense has subpoenaed Phill Kline, a former Kansas attorney general, to testify at the trial.

Kline told The Star last week that he would comply with his legal obligation to appear but added: “I have always condemned any act of violence against Dr. Tiller and still do.”

Kline launched an investigation into Tiller’s practices in 2003 and filed charges in 2006, but they were thrown out on jurisdictional grounds. After Kline was defeated by Paul Morrison in a 2006 election, Morrison filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller, accusing him of having an illegal financial relationship with a physician who authorized late-term abortions that Tiller performed.

Tiller was acquitted of all charges at a jury trial in March, but abortion foes — including Roeder — have said that the trial was “a sham.”

To reach Judy L. Thomas, call 816-234-4334 or send e-mail to jthomas@kcstar.com.