Scott Roeder sentencing update: Psychologist says Roeder is mentally competent By Ron Sylvester, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Scott Roeder sentencing update: Psychologist says Roeder is mentally competent

By Ron Sylvester, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.


By Ron Sylvester, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Apr. 1--WICHITA -- The defense has called George Hough, a psychologist from Topeka, as its next witness in today's sentencing of Scott Roeder, convicted killer of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

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.

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.

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.

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