Atty: Kan. abortion doctor's death was 'terrorism'

WICHITA, Kan. — The murder of one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions was "a gutless act of terror" and was as destructive as "an earthquake" for women seeking such medical services, the doctor's friend and attorney said Thursday.

Attorney Lee Thompson asked District Judge Warren Wilbert to give the harshest possible sentence to anti-abortion zealot Scott Roeder, who admitted he gunned down Tiller in the back of Tiller's Wichita church last May because he felt doing so would protect unborn children.

Roeder was facing a mandatory life prison term, although Wilbert had to decide whether to make him eligible for parole after 25 or 50 years. The judge indicated during the hearing that the evidence showed that the 52-year-old Roeder stalked Tiller before killing him, which could qualify him for the harsher of the two sentences.

Roeder, of Kansas City, Mo., was expected to be the last person to speak at the hearing and was expected to discuss his beliefs.

Thompson described his friend Tiller as a devoted husband, father and grandfather and a strong believer in women's rights. He said his office still receives calls from women seeking medical services. As he spoke about Tiller as a devoted grandfather, Tiller's widow, Jeanne, cried. Roeder at times looked away, yawned and took a drink of water.

"The impact of his death on women throughout the world is like an earthquake," Thompson said. "They ask, where can I go? What will I do?' I have to say, 'I'm sorry, I can't tell you.' That's the impact of this crime."

Thompson said if Roeder didn't receive the harshest sentence, it would invite other anti-abortion fanatics to follow in his footsteps.

"It will happen again and again," Thompson said. "This is domestic terrorism. This act will be repeated by this person if he ever sees the light of day again."

Prosecutors seeking the harsher sentence must show an aggravating circumstance, such as whether Roeder stalked his victim before killing him. Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston argued that the longer sentence was warranted because Roeder stalked Tiller for years, and he put others at the church in danger when he shot the doctor and when others chased him afterward.

Roeder testified in January that he had previously taken a gun into the doctor's church and had checked out the gated subdivision where Tiller lived and the clinic where he practiced.

Foulston said the murder hurt Tiller's church and "wounded the country." Thompson said Roeder targeted Tiller in a "hate crime" because Tiller provided abortion services.