Key Points from the Oral Arguments of the Scott Roeder Case

Abstract

George Tiller was a Kansas abortionist who specialized in late-term abortions, which are legal under Kansas law only under special circumstances. Scott Roeder killed him, and on trial for murder, wished to plead that he was defending third persons against imminent and unlawful death at the hands of Tiller. He was prepared to present evidence to that effect to the jury, but the trial judge blocked both the plea and the evidence. If the evidence were persuasive, the jury could either have acquitted Roeder altogether, if they decided that his belief that he was defending third persons was reasonable, or convicted him just of voluntary manslaughter, if they decided he had a sincere but unreasonable belief. Since the blocked plea and evidence were Roeder’s only defenses, he was convicted of murder. He appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, which had it oral argument on January 29, 2014. This paper discusses the oral argument.