Man guilty of abortion medic death
An activist who confessed to gunning down one of the few US doctors to offer late-term abortions faces a sentence of life in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Jurors took just 37 minutes to convict Scott Roeder of putting a .22-calibre gun to Dr George Tiller's forehead and pulling the trigger in the foyer of a church.
Roeder's attorneys had hoped to argue for a lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter, based on the defendant's belief that the killing was justified to save the lives of unborn children. But the judge threw out that defence, leaving jurors to choose between a murder conviction or acquittal.
Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Missouri, admitted his actions on the witness stand.
Defence attorney Mark Rudy described his case as "helpless and hopeless".
"I've never seen anyone lay himself out as much as Mr Roeder did," Rudy said after the verdict.
Prosecutors carefully sidestepped the abortion debate as they painted Roeder as a cold and careful killer who methodically planned his attack. But both sides of the abortion debate lined up to respond to the verdict.
Abortion-rights advocates said the decision would send a message to the militant fringe of the anti-abortion movement.
Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said she hoped the verdict would be a "deterrent to those that that are considering following in Roeder's footsteps".