Defense: Roeder considered Tiller an 'imminent threat' BY RON SYLVESTER The Wichita Eagle

Defense: Roeder considered Tiller an 'imminent threat'

BY RON SYLVESTER

The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA - Scott Roeder's public defenders say in a motion filed today that he believed Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller provided an imminent threat to the unborn during a shooting at Tiller's church last spring.

The defense filed its response, answering a motion by prosecutors on Monday trying to prevent Roeder from using voluntary manslaughter as a defense while standing trial for first-degree murder.

Judge Warren Wilbert has set a hearing for 1:30 p.m. today to consider the issue.

Roeder, 51, is charged with the May 31 shooting death of Tiller, one of only four physicians in the country willing to provide late-term abortions for women whose health was threatened by the pregnancy. Roeder has admitted to the killing but said he shot Tiller to protect the unborn.

Under Kansas law, voluntary manslaughter is the "unreasonable but honest belief" that the use of force was justified. It is also known as the imperfect self-defense. It is a less severe charge than murder.

The state argued Monday in a last-minute motion before the trial was set to start that Wilbert should prevent Roeder from mentioning his reasoning to the jury. Prosecutors said the "imperfect self-defense" required an imminent threat by Tiller, who was not at his clinic ready to perform abortions but in his church serving as an usher and standing at a snack table when he was shot in the head. The prosecution said the jury should consider only whether the killing was premeditated.

The defense, however, argued those circumstances play into the "unreasonable" part of the law.

"Premeditation requires reason; the imperfect self-defense requires the absence of reasons," public defender Mark Rudy wrote, quoting Kansas case law.

Rudy also said Roeder viewed Tiller as a threat because of his abortion practices.

Prosecutors had argued that imminent threat, under the law, has to be immediate, not based on some future event.

The defense argued that in Roeder's mind, Tiller was not a threat "based on character, or exchange of words, or provocation of physical self defense, but instead based on abortion procedures that have resulted in deaths and been reported to the state of Kansas."

"The imminence of danger was greater than mere fear of future harm," Rudy added. "There was a state licensed facility operating in Sedgwick County to perform abortions. It had staff. It had a practitioner. It had a budget. It had clientele. It assumedly had a schedule of pending abortion procedures. In the mind of Mr. Roeder, the victim presented a clear danger to unborn children."

The defense contended that whether Roeder is guilty of premeditated murder or voluntary manslaughter is a decision for a jury.

Rudy also pointed out that all of the cases cited by prosecutors Monday came from trials in which the judge allowed the jury to consider voluntary manslaughter.

The late arguments have pushed jury selection back two days. That is now set to begin Wednesday morning.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/1132757.html#ixzz0cPjN59Nk