Murder in Kansas

Scott Roeder had confessed to shooting Dr. George Tiller as he ushered at his church on a Sunday morning. In fact, he had planned it for some time and had even gone to the church once before intending to kill him. But Tiller was not there that morning.

This time, on May 31, he was there, passing our church bulletins and taking his turn as an usher. Roeder walked up to him and shot him point black in the forehead.

Roeder's trial has been going on this week in Wichita. He had pled not guilty on the basis of his conviction that the only way to stop Tiller from killing more "babies" was to kill him, since no legal cases to stop him had been successful.

Of course, Dr. Tiller had been performing a legal procedure. The fact that Mr. Roeder believed that it was murder does not change the fact that Dr. Tiller was doing no wrong in the sight of the law. I believe we used to call this "vigilante justice."

Today, jurors needed only 37 minutes of deliberation to convict Roeder of premeditated, first degree murder. He faces a mandatory life sentence, with possibility of parole in 25 years, although the prosecutor will argue for a minimum time of 50 years.

This is a just verdict. No matter how one feels about abortion, civilization is in jeopardy if we allow individuals -- no matter how sincere in their beliefs -- to resort to murdering someone for doing what society has deemed a legal medical procedure.

Ralph