So are the far right extremists calling for his execution?  His maximum sentence for the first degree murder conviction is life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.  There are juveniles incarcerated for convenience store robberies in Florida who will never see freedom.  Inequality in sentencing illustrated here.

Verdict reached in Kan. abortion slaying trial

51-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in doctor's death

WICHITA, Kan. - Jurors reached a verdict in the trial of a man accused of killing a Kansas abortion provider.

It took the jury 37 minutes Friday to reach the verdict in confessed killer Scott Roeder's trial. It was to be read late Friday morning.

Roeder has said he shot Dr. George Tiller on May 31 to protect unborn children

His lawyers on Thursday failed to make a case for a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. The judge also refused to allow the jury to consider a second-degree murder conviction.

If convicted of first-degree murder, the 51-year-old faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35145293/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Life with the possibility of parole after 25 years is too light a sentence, although there is no guarantee that Roeder will ever see the light of day outside prison.  I would be satisified to see him receive the death penalty for the crime, but I don't know what Kansas law allows, and I'm not sure if the case would rise to capital punishment stature under the existing Supreme Court decisions.  As far as sentencing guidelines in other states, there are clearly inequities in sentencing, but that's a state-by-state issue.  I would be interested in seeing what you're talking about in Florida, as that would be a case of severe inequity if there aren't some significant mitigating factors.

This does point out the shallowness of the uproar over the judge allowing his defense team to try to make the case for voluntary manslaughter.

my prayers are for the rejection of his parole.

amen.

gop, we had a thread on the Florida cases not so long ago ~ when I get full functionality in yuku back, I'll try to find it and bump it for you ~ as I recall, Florida has the highest number of youngsters imprisoned for life with no chance at parole ~ some for NOT violent crimes against people ~

Sooz

I did my policy analysis paper for my Master of Social Work Social Policy course on the A Juvenile Life without Parole. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing Sullivan v Florida and Graham  v  Florida.    Neither were choirboys.  Sullivan was convicted of raping a woman when he was 13.  Graham, while on parole, was involved  in a home invasion robbery at the age of 17. No one was even home during the home invasion.

I am all for life prisionment without parole on capital cases.  However...

It's Obama's fault, Kathy.

This does point out the shallowness of the uproar over the judge allowing his defense team to try to make the case for voluntary manslaughter.

Gop- what "uproar", exactly? Are you saying judges never screw up? Or that to question a judge is automatically "shallow"? 

 

 

Gop- what "uproar", exactly? Are you saying judges never screw up? Or that to question a judge is automatically "shallow"?

The answers may depend on the judge's political affiliations.

I was talking about the criticism of the judge for allowing Roeder's defense to be that he was actually guilty of voluntary manslaughter.  We had a few posts on it here.

As far as your second and third questions, I never said or suggested either of those things.  My comment was directed expressly at this instance.

I have no problem with people disagreeing, either.

The judge did a fine job in this case, also.  The criticism of his original decision to allow Roeder's defense to attempt to call it voluntary manslaughter was proven to be without merit, as the dire consequences predicted by some did not come to pass.  The judge, when he instructed the jury, didn't gve them the option of considering voluntary manslaughter, because the defense hadn't made its case for it.

I would like to see a stronger sentence, too, but that's up to Kansas, and it's possible they don't have a "life without parole" option.  At any rate, he won't even be eligible for consideration for parole for 25 year.

I believe more and escalating violence IS a real threat ~ I also believe it goes well beyond "a belief system" ~ and, for me, it is VERY troubling that ANY clergy is seemingly so accepting of escalating violence ~ personally, I'm very happy the prosecution is asking for a tougher sentence on Roeder, altho there is still a threatened appeal in the offing, apparently centered on the judge's jury instructions ~ emphasis/bolding/bright red below is mine ~ Sooz


Conviction angers anti-abortion militants

Some fear Scott Roeder's guilty verdict will embolden others to violence

Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. - Those living on the virulent edge of the anti-abortion movement pinned their hopes on Scott Roeder.

Testifying in his own defense, a remorseless and resolute Roeder insisted he had committed a justified act for the defense of unborn children by killing Dr. George Tiller, one of the country's few physicians to offer late-term abortions. It was a bold legal strategy that, if successful, had the potential to radically alter the debate over abortion by reducing the price for committing such an act of violence.

When it failed, those who share Roeder's passionate, militant belief against abortion were outraged: One said they are getting tired of being treated as a "piece of dirt" unable to express the reasons for such acts in court. So while relieved at the outcome, abortion-rights advocates worry a verdict that should be a deterrent will instead further embolden those prone to violence.

"Many of those who came here in his support will be key to making (Roeder) a martyr for their cause — all in furtherance of advocating deadly violence," said Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Roeder faces a minimum sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years in prison when he's sentenced March 9, although prosecutors will ask the judge to require the 51-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man to serve at least 50 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole. His attorneys plan to appeal, arguing jurors should have been allowed to consider the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, requiring proof that Roeder had an unreasonable but honest belief that deadly force was justified.

'Everybody is pretty angry'[/b]
The Rev. Donald Spitz, of Chesapeake, Va., who runs the Army of God Web site supporting violence against abortion providers, said the rejection of that argument has upset those who view Roeder as a hero.

"I know there is not a lot of good feeling out there — everybody is pretty angry," he said.

Spitz was the spiritual adviser to Paul Hill and was with him at his 2003 execution for the killing of a Florida abortion provider and a clinic escort in 1994, an event that led to a lull in violence at abortion clinics. While saying he knows nothing of impending plans by others against abortion doctors, Spitz scoffed at suggestions that Roeder's conviction will have a similar effect.

"Times change," Spitz said. "People are not as passive as they have been. They are more assertive."

Such comments terrify abortion-rights advocates, who say they'll continue to press the Obama administration for deeper protections, such as buffer zones around clinics, to protect doctors against others who might follow in Roeder's steps. Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said her group had noticed a rise in anti-abortion violence over the past year.

"We used to have members report incidents once a month — now it's every day," Saporta said. "Every time, we forward it on to Justice Department task force, and they report it to FBI so nothing slips through the cracks."

Network of extremists[/b]
Others are demanding a federal investigation and prosecution of what they claim is a network of extremists, citing Roeder's testimony that he talked to others about justifiable homicide of abortion doctors.

"To see each murder as an isolated attack by one individual misses the fact there are these connections," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "It's of extreme concern that some anti-choice fanatics will want to see themselves martyred in similar ways. It is a frightening possibility there will be copy cats."

Spitz said he has twice been subpoenaed to testify before grand juries in the past and FBI agents have been to his house several times. He disavows the existence of any organized conspiracy.

"We don't have a group," he said. "It is a belief system."

At least one Justice Department official attended the trial, along with agents from the FBI. Justice officials in Washington declined to comment Friday. But in the wake of Tiller's death, the Justice Department increased security around women's health facilities and opened an investigation to try to determine if Roeder had accomplices.

Among the other spectators at the trial was Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, which organized the 1991 "Summer of Mercy" protests that included attempts to block Tiller's Wichita clinic and led to more than 2,700 arrests. As the jury was deliberating in Wichita, Terry said he believed that no matter the outcome of Roeder's trial, more violence was inevitable.

"The blood of these babies slain by Tiller is crying for vengeance," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35162547/ns ... and_courts