A judge ruled on Tuesday that Kansas law doesn’t allow a so-called “necessity defense,” in the trial of a man charged with killing one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers.
The decision was another blow to lawyers for 51-year-old Scott Roeder, who has confessed to shooting Dr George Tiller on May 31 and says it was necessary to save unborn children.
In his ruling, Judge Warren Wilbert cited a 1993 criminal trespassing case involving an abortion clinic in which the Kansas Supreme Court said that to allow the personal beliefs of a person to justify criminal activity to stop a law-abiding citizen from exercising his rights would “not only lead to chaos, but would be tantamount to sanctioning anarchy.”
But he noted that that case dealt only with a property rights issue, whereas the case involving Roeder has elevated the argument to whether it is justified to take one life for another.
“That is certainly not a position I want to be in — because I am not God,” Wilbert said.
However, the judge told attorneys he would “leave the door open” to consider later whether to allow specific evidence on the use of force for the defense of another person before letting the jury hear it.
“That doesn’t mean it is wide open ... we can discuss it,” Wilbert said.
The decision came during a hearing that mostly dealt setbacks to Roeder’s defense. The judge rejected a change of venue request and a motion that would have kept prosecutors from making peremptory jury strikes based on potential jurors’ beliefs about abortion.
While Wilbert denied the motion to prohibit the strikes, he said he would deal with such issues on a person-by-person basis during the trial, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11. He refused to move the case out of Wichita, where pre-trial publicity has been intense.
Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Missouri, is charged with one count of premeditated, first-degree murder in Tiller’s death and two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening two ushers during the May 31 melee in the foyer of the doctor’s Wichita church.
Roeder, who has pleaded not guilty, confessed to the shooting on Nov. 9, saying he had no regrets about killing Tiller and suggesting the necessity defense should be the only contested issue at his trial. He declined to say when asked if he would kill another abortion provider if he were acquitted.
The “necessity defense” has rarely been used successfully in abortion cases. Roeder’s attorneys — while arguing that their client has a right to present his theory of defense — have so far kept their own strategy secret.
Prosecutors have solid evidence against Roeder, chiefly the witnesses who identified him during a preliminary hearing as the shooter. Legal experts have said prosecutors likely will want to keep the trial limited to a straightforward murder case and avoid a discussion of abortion.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was