The Roeder trial should be over

The Scott Roeder trial about whether or not he shot and killed (murdered) Dr. George Tiller should be, in effect, over as of yesterday .

Roeder (I refuse to refer to him as "Mr. Roeder. I cannot/will not give him that respect) confessed, under oath, on the witness stand in court.

To repeat for emphasis: Roeder is on trial to decide if he killed Dr. Tiller.

He confessed to it yesterday, under oath, on the witness stand, in court.

And get this--not only did Roeder admit to killing him but he also offered up that " he had been thinking about doing so since 1993."

The Judge made two very simple but wise and true statements regarding the case yesterday, too because, as the article in The Star pointed out "at the end of the day he ruled that he would not give jurors the option of considering a voluntary manslaughter conviction."

"Such a defense requires that a person must be stopping the imminent use of unlawful force," he said.

"There’s no imminence of danger on a Sunday morning in the back of a church,” Wilbert said, “let alone unlawful conduct." (This is as Sevesteen pointed out here, a couple days ago, in comments on this blog).

“In the state of Kansas, abortions are legal.”

It's over.

Roeder has declared himself guilty.

Fortunately, Judge Wilbert seemed to have had a change of mind on the case, too, when he announced, finally and fortunately, that the murder charge is the only option the jurors can decide after all, thank goodness.

I'm glad we've conclusively gotten that out of the way.

Sentencing should precede.

The only question now is whether the jury will return its verdict today or Monday, I believe.

Side note: I love the picture of Roeder on the front page of The Kansas City Star today. He looks as though he had a lobotomy and is trying to understand whatever someone is saying to him.

Again, calling for Judge Wilbert to recuse himself

Okay, this does it. This proves beyond any doubt that Judge Wilbert, in Wichita, overseeing the Scott Roeder trial for the murder of Dr. George Tiller is, unequivocally, biased in favor of the accused and that, secondly, he should--without that same doubt--recuse himself from the case.

Get this--this is what happened today:

"Tempers flared today when a judge said he would allow the man charged with killing abortion doctor George Tiller to tell jurors how he formed his beliefs about abortion."

This isn't a trial on or about abortion in any way.

This is a trial to decide if one Scott Roeder is or is not guilty of shooting and killing one Dr. George Tiller and whether or not it was premeditated.

With this action today, allowing the accused to describe a side detail--that of "how he formed his beliefs about abortion", Judge Wilbert has, without question, set this trial up to be heard yet again, once it's made clear this jury was contaminated, in effect, by this line of questioning.

This is not a trial on or about abortion. This is a murder trial.

Listen to how the Judge talked out of both sides of his mouth here, earlier today:

“We’re not going to discuss partial-birth abortions, we’re not going to discuss late-term abortions and actual medical procedures. But his personally held beliefs in general about abortion, whether it’s harmful, whether it terminates a viable baby, he’s going to get to testify to that.”

Excuse me? You're not going to have the trial be about abortion but you're going to let the defense and Mr. Roeder talk about his opinions on abortion and what Dr. Tiller's job was?

Judge Wilbert has spoiled the atmosphere in his court--and of this jury--with this allowance.

The case should now be dismissed and retried, with another, new jury.

The sooner he does, the sooner justice might be served.