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Yoshitsune Minamoto
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Jan 29, 2010
'I killed doc to save lives'
WICHITA (Kansas) - IN AN impassioned plea before a US court, a born-again Christian argued on Thursday that he had killed a prominent abortion doctor because he wanted to save the lives of unborn babies. 'I did what I thought needed to be done to protect the children. I shot him,' Scott Roeder told the jury. 'If I didn't do it the babies were going to die the next day.' Mr Roeder, 51, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the May 2009 slaying of Dr. George Tiller in the foyer of a Kansas church. In an unorthodox move that critics fear could provide a cover for political violence, he is seeking to convince jurors that he is guilty of the lesser offence of voluntary manslaughter.
Under Kansas law, that statute can apply to a person who takes action against another person based on an unreasonable but honest defence that he or she is preventing a greater harm. District Judge Warren Wilbert has not yet ruled as to whether he will allow jurors to consider the lesser offence. 'It is not man's job to take life. It's never up to man to take life - except in cases of self-defense or defense of others,' Roeder testified. 'From conception forward it (abortion) is murder.' Dr Tiller was one of only a handful of doctors in the United States to perform late-term abortions, which earned him the wrath of pro-life activists who had dubbed him 'Tiller the baby killer'. -- AFP
Home > Breaking News > World > Story
Jan 29, 2010
'I killed doc to save lives'
WICHITA (Kansas) - IN AN impassioned plea before a US court, a born-again Christian argued on Thursday that he had killed a prominent abortion doctor because he wanted to save the lives of unborn babies. 'I did what I thought needed to be done to protect the children. I shot him,' Scott Roeder told the jury. 'If I didn't do it the babies were going to die the next day.' Mr Roeder, 51, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the May 2009 slaying of Dr. George Tiller in the foyer of a Kansas church. In an unorthodox move that critics fear could provide a cover for political violence, he is seeking to convince jurors that he is guilty of the lesser offence of voluntary manslaughter.
Under Kansas law, that statute can apply to a person who takes action against another person based on an unreasonable but honest defence that he or she is preventing a greater harm. District Judge Warren Wilbert has not yet ruled as to whether he will allow jurors to consider the lesser offence. 'It is not man's job to take life. It's never up to man to take life - except in cases of self-defense or defense of others,' Roeder testified. 'From conception forward it (abortion) is murder.' Dr Tiller was one of only a handful of doctors in the United States to perform late-term abortions, which earned him the wrath of pro-life activists who had dubbed him 'Tiller the baby killer'. -- AFP
