Tiller murder suspect still advocating in jail

WICHITA, Kan. – A man charged with shooting a prominent Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions has been advocating through mailings from his jail cell that such killings are justifiable and communicating with individuals on the fringes of the anti-abortion movement.

Scott Roeder, 51, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the May 31 death of Dr. George Tiller.

From his cell in Sedgwick County jail, Roeder has been sending anti-abortion pamphlets that laud Paul Hill, who was convicted of murdering an abortion provider in 1994, as an “American hero,” and include examples of Hill’s writings about how the killing of abortion providers is justifiable. Hill was executed in 2003.

Roeder has also been corresponding with the Rev. Donald Spitz – whose Army of God group’s Web site celebrates Hill and Linda Wolfe, an Oregon activist who has been jailed about 50 times for anti-abortion activities.

No one has accused Roeder of breaking any laws because of his jailhouse correspondence. But law enforcement agencies took seriously a threat Roeder made during a June 7 interview that there are “many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal.”