Scott Roeder, the man who murdered Dr. George Tiller, says he has no regrets, though he believes that he didn't necessarily receive a fair trial because he wasn't allowed to raise the issue of abortion in his defense:
The convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider has little sympathy for the family of his victim, comparing them to the relatives of a hit man in a recording posted online.
In his first public comments since his trial for the murder of Dr. George Tiller, Scott Roeder also criticized those who sought to keep the issue of abortion out of the proceedings altogether, saying it was like asserting that the trial for abolitionist John Brown was not about slavery.
"My beliefs were that the lives of unborn children were being taken by abortion," Roeder said in the video posted on YouTube Monday. "How you can keep that out of the trial is beyond me, because that was the one entire motive for the action that was taken."
His 10-minute conversation with abortion opponent Dave Leach is the first in a series recorded last week that will be posted online with Roeder's blessing, Leach told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
...
"The fact that George Tiller was involved in the practice that he was, similar to that of a hit man, if you could have sympathy for a hit man's family that is the sympathy I would have," Roeder said. "But every day, George Tiller did not have any sympathy for his victims" ... Roeder maintained he did not regret his actions. "I didn't have any regrets except for maybe the fact that if the law had done what it was supposed to do, and stop Mr. Tiller, he would not have had to come to this conclusion," Roeder said. "The lives of the babies were still being taken, and there had to be action taken to save them."
You can hear the interview here, but I just wanted to point out how remarkably similar his statements are to those made by Randall Terry, all the way down to the comparisons to John Brown:
The following is a statement by Randall Terry:
"We are not coming to condone or condemn Scott Roeder's actions. That decision will soon rest with the jury. However, there are those who want to pretend this trial has nothing to do with child-killing by abortion; that is a farce. It's like saying that the trials of Nat Turner and John Brown had nothing to do with slavery.
"We will be present to be a voice for the babies who perished at George Tiller's hand, and to raise a series of 'academic questions' such as the following:
"Was John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry completely right, completely wrong, or a mix of both? Was Brown a hero or a villain?
"Was Nat Turner's slave rebellion completely just, completely unjust, or a mixture of both? Was Turner a hero or a villain?
"George Tiller murdered 60,000 babies by his own hand. Scott Roeder knew this. How can Mr. Roeder receive a fair trial if this data is kept from the jury? Will the jury be allowed to hear evidence -- such as the grizzly means by which these babies were slain and disposed of -- evidence that would clearly effect Mr. Roeder's state of mind?
