Kan. judge refuses to block abortion shooting suspect’s manslaughter defense

Judge refuses to block manslaughter defense

WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas judge refused again on Tuesday to block confessed killer Scott Roeder from arguing at trial his belief that the shooting death of an abortion provider was a justified act aimed at saving unborn children.

Roeder has admitted killing Dr. George Tiller last year. He wants to present evidence that he did so in the honest belief that he was justified — a defense that could open the door to a conviction on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors say that defense is invalid because there’s no evidence Tiller posed an imminent threat at the time of the killing. Kansas law defines voluntary manslaughter as “an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.”

But Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert dealt prosecutors a setback on Tuesday, affirming his opinion from Friday that until the defense decides which evidence it will present, “it’s difficult for me to decide if it will be admissible.”

Wilbert warned that the defense had a difficult task, however, insisting that he would “make every effort to try this case as a criminal first-degree murder trial.”

Jury selection for Roeder’s trial is expected to begin Wednesday.

The facts of the case are not in dispute. On May 31, Roeder got up from a pew at Wichita’s Reformation Lutheran Church at the start of services and walked to the foyer, where Tiller and a fellow usher were chatting. He put the barrel of a .22-caliber handgun to Tiller’s forehead and pulled the trigger.

Prosecutors charged Roeder with first-degree murder. Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., later admitted to reporters and in a court filing that he killed Tiller. The prosecution stands ready with more than 250 prospective witnesses to prove it.

But what had been expected to be a simple trial was altered when Wilbert refused to bar Roeder’s lawyers from building a defense case calling for a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because Roeder sincerely believed the killing would save unborn children.

A conviction for voluntary manslaughter could bring a prison sentence closer to five years, instead of a life term for first-degree murder.

The Kansas Supreme Court was considering a challenge from four media outlets, including The Associated Press, over the judge’s decision to bar reporters from witnessing jury selection.