It took a jury of his peers only 37 minutes to find the gunman accused of killing famed pro-choice doctor George Tiller guilty of first-degree murder. After the twists and turns of this six-day trial, it’s a relief to see politics removed from the courtroom and justice served.
To be sure, gunman Scott Roeder never disputed killing Tiller at all. Instead, he sought to justify the assassination as an attempt to save innocent lives, meaning fetuses. Remarkably, the judge actually ruled that Roeder could testify to that effect, opening the possibility that the jury might convict Roeder for the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. What’s more, that ruling also had the potential to turn Roeder’s trial into a referendum on the merits of abortion.
But anti-choice activists were disappointed — the show trial never come to fruition. And even after ruling that a voluntary manslaughter defense might be considered, the judge also ruled that the jury wouldn’t be instructed to consider a lesser charge.
After hearing closing arguments, and receiving instructions about the charges available for their consideration, the jury briefly stepped out of the courtroom for deliberation this morning. In less than an hour, they returned to announce their finding that Roeder was guilty on all counts. Now convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault (for pointing the murder weapon at Tiller’s fellow ushers,) the 51-year-old Roeder may be subject to 50 years in prison without chance of parole, prosecutors say.
Even before his assassination, Tiller suffered the consequences of being a long-time target of anti-choice militants and protesters. In 1986, his clinic was firebombed. In 1991, Tiller and his staff persevered amid thousands of protesters during the so-called “Summer of Mercy.” Two years later, Tiller braved an assassination attempt by anti-choice activist Rachelle Shannon. (Despite being shot in both arms, Tiller returned to work the very next day.) And in 2002, the extremist anti-choice organization Operation Rescue, which helped Roeder track Tiller’s movements, moved to Wichita with the stated intent to close down the Women Health Care Services clinic Tiller ran.
Tiller treated many women who learned late in their pregnancies of genetic anomalies compromising their fetuses’ likelihood of surviving outside of the womb. He also treated women who would suffer severe psychological damage from proceeding with the pregnancy. And, as required by Kansas law, all of his medical conclusions were formally and independently confirmed by a second doctor.
In life, he braved considerable, and ultimately terminal, risks to serve as one of only a few doctors in our country providing care to some of the women who need it most. And he did so with with a mantra that underlined his dignity under fire: “Attitude is everything.”
That mantra graced a button worn by a friend, who rejoiced with Tiller’s family outside of the Sedgwick County courthouse in Wichita today. While we can’t bring Dr. Tiller back, we can take solace in the precedent this verdict sets for those who violate the sanctity of doctors’ churches, homes or clinics to try and stop them from helping women who are often most in need.
Photo Credit: KOMUnews