Tiller's Killer Will Be Tried for Murder

Update: after 37 minutes, the jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Scott Roeder.

Reproductive rights advocates and doctors who provide abortions can breathe a collective sigh of relief: Scott Roeder, Dr. George Tiller's confessed killer, will be tried for murder.

Tiller was murdered in cold blood in his church last year by Roeder, an anti-choice fanatic who opposed his provision of legal late-term abortions to women. Roeder was quickly arrested and confessed to the crime, so it seemed like a simple case of murder.

However, the judge threw everyone for a loop earlier this month when he said he would be willing to entertain a "voluntary manslaughter" argument, which could result in a sentence of as little as five years prison time. Many reproductive rights advocates worried that such a ruling would in effect declare "open season on doctors." Prosecutors warned that "this line of thinking would allow anyone to commit premeditated murder, but only be guilty of manslaughter, simply because the victim holds a different set of moral and political beliefs than the attacker."

But today, after Scott Roeder testified on the stand (during which he revealed that he'd considered using a sword to chop off Tiller's hands), the judge informed the jury that they could not consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. He said, "There is no immediate danger in the back of a church," which would render Tiller an imminent threat, and his practice of performing late-term abortions was legal. A second-degree murder charge is also out of the question, because the killing was most definitely pre-meditated.

Photo credit: bloomsberries