Tiller's Killer Found Guilty of Murder, Cites Pat Robertson as Inspiration

And, that's a wrap.

After 37 minutes of deliberation, jurors returned a guilty verdict for first-degree murder in the trial of Scott Roeder, who shot and killed Dr. George Tiller in his church last year. The verdict was hardly surprising -- once the judge had ruled that Roeder could not, after all, present a voluntary manslaughter defense, the killer's matter-of-fact confession made it difficult to see him as anything but guilty. Roeder even discussed his other plots for killing or debilitating Tiller, like chopping off his hands with a sword, and expressed no remorse for his actions. (And yet, the New York Times reports, some anti-choicers don't believe Roeder received a fair trial.)

Roeder's testimony also brought up the issue of where the motivation to kill a doctor who provides abortions comes from. He revealed that his true acceptance of "Christianity" and the evil of abortion came during Rev. Pat Robertson's television show, "The 700 Club." Robertson's brand of Christianity, however, is based on demonization of opponents; the New Yorker points out that "Pat Robertson has attributed any manner of slaughter or scourge -- September 11th, Hurricane Katrina -- to abortionists." His website teaches that "abortion is murder." In recent infamy, he blamed the earthquake in Haiti on "a pact with the Devil."

In the aftermath of Tiller's murder, hateful far-right media came under scrutiny for the role they played in forming Scott Roeder's belief that the doctor deserved to die -- and that he had to do it. Bill O'Reilly was particularly taken to task for referring to Tiller as "executing babies," calling him a "murderer," and proclaiming, "If we allow Dr. George Tiller and his acolytes to continue, we can no longer pass judgment on any behavior by anybody."

Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, a think tank that monitors the right-wing, discusses the connection between demonization by right-wing pundits and creating a culture conducive to violent extremism. While it wasn't a secret that Roeder consumed right-wing media and formed his extremist anti-choice views in part because of dangerous conservative rhetoric, having him on court record connecting his decision to murder Tiller to Pat Robertson is striking. If personalities like Robertson don't support violent action, they should think hard about the kind of hatred they spew.

Photo credit: Erna-Louisa