Hearing on Kansas decision to allow voluntary manslaughter defense in abortion provider death
By APTuesday, January 12, 2010
Some fear Kansas ruling may spur abortion violence
WICHITA, Kansas — Prosecutors are challenging a Kansas judge’s decision to allow a confessed killer to present a voluntary manslaughter defense in the slaying of one of the few late-term abortion providers in the U.S.
A Tuesday hearing is scheduled to allow Scott Roeder’s defense attorneys to respond.
The judge’s decision allows Roeder to argue that he believes the slaying of Wichita doctor George Tiller was a justified act aimed at saving unborn children.
The decision has upended what most expected to be an open-and-shut first-degree murder case.
Some abortion opponents are pleasantly stunned and eager to watch Roeder plead his case. Tiller’s colleagues and abortion rights advocates are outraged and fear the court’s actions give a more than tacit approval to further acts of violence.
