George Tiller, photo via wikipedia.org

Scott Roeder gets max sentence for Tiller slaying

A Kansas judge on Thursday sentenced Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist who slew late-term abortionist George Tiller in cold blood last June, to fifty years in prison on a charge of first-degree murder, reports Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews.com.

Sedwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert deliberated for nine hours before giving Roeder 50 years to life in prison for gunning down Tiller as the abortionist ushered for church services at Reformation Lutheran Church last June.

Wilbert said that he could not give Roeder the lighter sentence of 25 years to life because the evidence showed Roeder had stalked Tiller, tracking his movements and choosing the location to commit the murder beforehand. Wilbert said the 50 year sentence was especially merited since the murder took place in a church, which is supposed to be "a place of peace and tranquility."

A jury convicted Roeder of murdering Tiller in January after deliberating for 37 minutes.

Wilbert also ordered Roeder to serve time for two additional convictions on charges of aggravated assault charge, meaning he will be eligible for parole when he is 103 years old.

During the sentencing Thursday, Roeder defended his ends-justify-the-means approach to stopping the killing of unborn children, arguing that he was following “God’s law” and that citizens had the power to take the law into their own hands to administer justice.

"I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby," Roeder said. "Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller."

Wilbert, in reading the sentencing of the court, rebutted Roeder’s position as shear vigilantism, citing court precedent declaring the state’s absolution of vigilantism would lead to anarchy and chaos.

Roeder retorted "Baby murder is anarchy and chaos," and as he was being led away, shouted to the court, "Blood of babies on your hands."

Tiller’s murder appalled the pro-life community, which univocally denounced the killing and extended prayers for the abortionist’s family. They maintained that even while Tiller’s committing of abortions was a crime against innocent human life, the appropriate means to deal with that injustice lay within the legal framework.

Since the 1990s, Roeder had espoused a mix of anarchist ideology with pseudo-Christian beliefs. He joined the Freeman movement during the nineties, claiming he was a “sovereign citizen” (a social theory that claims an individual is sovereign over any rules that society or the state may impose), and proclaimed himself a “born-again Christian."

Roeder also subscribed to the Army of God movement, a small, extremist association advocating murder and other acts of domestic terror to end abortion.

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TAGS: USA Scott Roeder anti-abortion activist George Tiller first-degree murder

[04/08/2010]

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