Scott Roeder guilty on all counts

Sentencing is set for March 9. As you probably remember, prosecutors took capital punishment off the table a while ago. Ron Sylvester says the prosecutors want to give him the Hard 50, meaning he wouldn't be eligible for parole until he's served 50 years. So, if Roeder lives to be 101, he could theoretically see the light of day again.

I'm curious to see if or when Roeder appeals. I was chatting with one of my editors, and he doesn't think Roeder will. He's essentially gotten what he wanted. Here's the official statement from Tiller's family:

Lee Thompson and Dan Monnat, Dr. George Tiller's attorneys, issued the following statement today at the request of Mrs. Jeanne Tiller and the Tiller family.

"The family of Dr. George Tiller would like to thank the jury, District Attorney Nola Foulston and her office and law enforcement for their service in this difficult matter. Once again, a Sedgwick County jury has reached a just verdict. We also want to thank George's countless friends and supporters in Wichita and around the country who have offered their comfort.

At this time we hope that George can be remembered for his legacy of service to women, the help he provided for those who needed it and the love and happiness he provided us as a husband, father and grandfather."

Defendant Scott Roeder leaves the courtroom after the jury heard the closing arguments in his case on Friday Jan. 29, 2010 in Wichita, Kan. Roeder was convicted of murdering Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. (AP Photo/Jeff Tuttle, Pool)

Comments

[Jane]

Court TV said they just brought in bomb sniffing dogs. wow

[Jane]

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!!!!

[Jellybean]

So saying, "I did it/ meant to do it/ planned to do it/ am glad I did it" will get you convicted? Good to know.

[JUNGLE JIM]

He's not smiling like in the last picture I saw of him. Hmmmm.

[Jane]

The district attorney said she is seeking The Hard 50 so he is never getting out.

[Jane]

Roeder is going to make a beautiful bride!

[Jane]

Roeder is going to spend the rest of his life on his knees and he won’t be praying to his god.

And these dorks thinks he is a hero! lmao

[Tom K]

Repeating myself: Just like the animal rights activists, pro-lifers have chosen to violate the law that they want to use against the people who they target. This removes any right that they might have had to have a law that helps them.

[Realist]

I'm happy he's going to jail. Not so much that he's facing the prospect of being sexually assaulted while he's there. He'll be sentenced to serve a prison term, not to be raped. As far as I'm concerned, gloating over the possibility he'll face sexual assault makes you not much better than he is.

[Jane]

No skin off my nose Realist. Not only do I gloat over murderers being sexually assaulted in the big house, I also gloat of sex offenders and child molesters being sexually assaulted, too. It’s poetic justice.

[Tom K]

We're tired of being pushed around by people like Roeder and those two home invaders mentioned in an earlier article, and knowing that they're going to receive some ritual humiliation and be brought low is particularly satisfying.

[quixotic]

I have to agree with realist. If you want torture as a sentencing option, get your representative to pass a law. This will ensure that no one who enters jail should ever be let out again, since they will almost certainly come out worse than they went in.

[themonkey]

Realist, I can live with be not much better than him, cause I am still better and the integrity of my bottom is still intact.

[aqua]

Jungle, I agree. Where's his smile now?

[heartlandboy]

beyond being a murderer, roeder is a domestic terrorist.
hope intrepid journalists everywhere are busy checking past sermons of his pastor, for evidence uncovering his terrorist cell.

[Ralfred]

It is interesting. He might want to appeal the aggravated assault convictions, since he denied it.

Or he may want another chance to get his "message" out.

I doubt there will be any problem getting the hard 50 applied in this case.

[Bill S.]

Roeder never stood up for the convictions he claimed.

Rather than let himself be apprehended immediately, he cut and run, threatening others with death in order to get away.

Roeder's just another hypocrite like Paul Hill, and will likely meet the same fate once he is convicted on federal charges.

[Justin]

What wimps took the death penalty off the table. What did they get in return? A confession? It irks me that prosecutors compromise on a slam dunk case to make their jobs easier.

[Mark]

Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Scowling Sam Alito have already announced that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an immediate plea to overturn Roeder's conviction on the grounds that the murder of doctors was not expressly prohibited in the U.S. Constitution.

[Old Woman]

Years ago, when abortion was just starting to be legal in Kansas, it was called Therapeutic Abortion and had to be done in a hospital, I worked at KU Med Center. One of the biggest-mouthed anti-abortion publicity hogs brought in her daughter for a therapeutic abortion.

One of many. Those who claim to be against abortion are often/usually only against OTHER people getting abortions.

And MANY THANKS to the KCMO doctor who provided ME with an abortion, when it was still illegal.

[Joe White]

Interesting that some who probably were outraged at the thought of Islamic terrorists undergoing harsh interrogation or torture to extract information and prevent future terrorist attacks..........

.......seem to be just fine with prisoners in American jails being raped and beaten, just so they can enjoy a feeling of vengeance.

That being said, I'm glad the Roeder was found guilty. He is guilty, and should not have killed George Tiller.

[Marvin]

Old Woman,

I've heard of too many prominent, upstanding pro-lifers sneaking kids or mistresses to doctors for abortions.

[Lee Stevens]

This is cold blooded planned first degree murder carried out as an execution against an unsuspecting unarmed man at church, with no remorse.
This is the well documented mo of groups who use and will continue to use this as an attack to overthrow Roe vs Wade by practical force not law.To not sentence him to death is to acknowledge that the murder and murderer had some sort of merit.

[quixotic]

Roeder is just a deluded, mentally incompetent patsy. Those who fed his delusion, who ranted against abortionists and called them killers, and who did all this for ratings, for money, are the real agents of evil here.

If they truly believed what they said, they would have tried to influence legislation. No, they want to keep this issue alive so they can continue to use it as a wedge and a moneymaker.

[Laura]

The most compelling moment of the whole trial for me was Roeder saying that after he shot a man in the head he stopped for a snack on the way home. Wow!

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Hmmm I'm hoping that the "hard 50" he gets will involve several men that will make him their bi*&^.

Hopefully the life sentence he gets will allow him to live a long and painful life in prison and that it's well documented the horrors that he will go through because he felt a "moral obligation" to kill a abortion doctor.

[aqua]

"And MANY THANKS to the KCMO doctor who provided ME with an abortion, when it was still illegal."

Posted by: Old Woman | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 01:58 PM

Old Woman, you seem very thankful for the doctor that you hired to murder your child.

Abortion is something everybody would like to see less of, I would hope.

[Ruth]

Guilty he is. but his punishment will be nothing compared to what Tiller is going through. The "GREAT" judge is taking care of him and it is not pretty.

[TC]

Roeder will definitely get a "hard 10" in prison......

[me]

Aqua, Old Woman doesn't seem thankful. She is thankful. And she probably would disagree that it was murder. Interesting--in my own family, the ones that are the most adamant "pro-life" are the ones that had abortions. The "pro-choice" haven't. But when push comes to shove, even the "pro-life" ones will admit (never publicly) they don't want the law change. I just wonder if all families have these secrets.

[AH]

Aqua since you know nothing of Old Woman's reasons for the abortion I would suggest that you go to the abyss yourself. Before legal abortions were available many with problems were forced to carry babies to term as was stated at the time "Punishment from God". If she was still alive I would have you talk to one of my aunts that had a mole pregancy. "It" did have a heartbeat but should not have been brought to term.

[Tom K]

It just figures that the anti-choice people would take advantage of medical privacy laws at the same time they're having someone like Phill go around those laws and blatantly violate them.

It's always like that.

[Sarah]

Justin and Lee, the death sentence was never an option in this case. Kansas only allows capital punishment for 7 very specific types of premeditated murder. Most premeditated murders do not fit within Kansas' capital punishment statute. (K.S.A. 21-3439 if you want to read it for yourself.)

Dr. Tiller's murder simply did not fit any of the aggravating factors and so could not be punished by death.

[aqua]

me - your comment was nothing but a scarecrow. set 'em up and knock 'em down.

Using your logic, since I am an adamant "pro-life"-er,
I must have had an abortion somewhere along the way ... //snark

I'm not pushing to change any laws.

I just want people to be honest in what we are actually doing as a society.

I just want people to quit referring to a terminated child as terminated glob of cells.

[me]

I wasn't talking about you, Aqua. Why would you think I was talking about you? I just said this is what I experienced in my family in my family and was wondering what other people experience. You can call an abortion whatever you want to call it. And I never said anything about you wanting to change laws. I don't know you and know nothing about you.

[Old Woman]

Why did I have an abortion? Because I didn't want my genes trapped with those of the "father" of the "child" forever.

Many thanks to the doctor who provided me and many other pre-Roe v. Wade Kansas City women with abortions.

[Kevin]

Justin, you must live under a rock. The death penalty was not on the table because Kansas law did not provide for it in this case. Specific conditions set out by statute must be met for the death penalty to be applicable in Kansas and this case did not have any of those conditions. If you are going to make a comment about the law and how it is applied, try to at least find out what the law is first.

[themoralpilgrim]

Acqua said, I just want people to quit referring to a terminated child as terminated glob of cells...cut the drama, it's no child..

[moralpilgrim]

Take a look at the image on this blog and tell me this is a child.
http://bullywatch009.blogspot.com/2010/01/seven-week-specimen-without-legs-or.html

[aqua]

AH - I feel for your Aunt and have compassion.

I am not looking to change any laws.

Again, I would hope that abortion is something that everyone would like to occur less often.

[aqua]

themoralpilgrim - nice fairy tale you believe.

you must believe in man-made global warming too.

[Boy George]

He's all mine now!

[theoldman]

So,during a partial birth abortion, it isnt a human being having its brain scrambled like an egg and then suck out with a vaccuum cleaner?...just a 'glob of cells"...then doesnt that mean when "it" had a bullet routed through "it's" skull, scrambling the brain and taking the "glob of cell's" with it out through the exit wound, it wasnt really murder, but a "selected termination? Odd how the only difference between the two is a simple twist of words. And I am neither pro-choice or pro-life.

[theoldman]

On the lighter side, Im thinking this guy will be all about pro-choice when he has to have his son, "fudgie", removed from his packed a$$...

[Tom K]

Didn't Tiller do those abortions when medically necessary to save the lives of the mothers?

[Searching]

I've heard of too many prominent, upstanding pro-lifers sneaking kids or mistresses to doctors for abortions.

Posted by: Marvin | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 02:08 PM

Yeah, Marvin... Like who?

Tom K.
Abortions preformed to save the mother or in the case of rape or incest only amount to 1% of the total abortions preformed. The rest are merely a convenient form of birth control, because they are too stupid to keep their legs closed or use protection.

[Drasil]

Why did I have an abortion? Because I didn't want my genes trapped with those of the "father" of the "child" forever.

Many thanks to the doctor who provided me and many other pre-Roe v. Wade Kansas City women with abortions.

Posted by: Old Woman | Friday, January 29, 2010 at 03:43 PM

Why didn't you think of that BEFORE you had sex?

[KC]

Searching - you didn't answer Tom K's question. There was a previous trial where the DA tried everything he knew to convict Dr. Tiller of doing illegal late-term abortions. Dr. Tiller was acquitted. These are facts we DO know, as opposed to allegations and innuendos that have not been proven.

[Old Woman]

To Searching: People who pretend to be anti-abortion unless THEY need one:

http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html

And, about "protection". Many of the same hypocrites who oppose abortion ALSO oppose sex education and easy access to contraception.

[Davey Smith]

Hate to tell you this Jane, but someone who would gloat over someone being sexually assaulted is not one bit better than the murderer, molester, whatever. Punishment, even death is one thing, but you are just as sick as these criminals if you really feel that way.

You guys who think rape happens in prison just because of who got killed or if it was a child molester.....you need to grow up and stop watching so much TV. Prison life is not at all what you think it is.

That said...I am happy that the creep got convicted. Nice to see that smirk wiped from his face.