State Courts

Testimony opens in Roeder trial on historic anniversary of legalized abortion

By Ron Sylvester

Across the country, supporters and detractors of the abortion rights issue with gather in the nation’s capitol and state capitols to mark the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. That Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in the United States.

In a Wichita courtroom this morning, a jury of eight men and six women will begin hearing testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Scott Roeder.

Roeder, 51, has admitted he shot and killed George Tiller, one of the few doctors who performed late-term abortions, the morning of May 31 in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.

Tiller spent his career defending himself and his clinic in Wichita against violence and most recently unsuccessful attempts to prosecute the doctor in criminal court.

Roeder has said he killed to protect the unborn.

Prosecutors will begin presenting evidence today to build their case for premeditated murder.

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on January 22, 2010 (boomark / email).