WICHITA, Kan. — The convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider has little sympathy for the family of his victim, comparing them to the relatives of a hit man.
In a recording posted on YouTube, his first public comments since his trial for the murder of Dr. George Tiller, Scott Roeder also criticized those who sought to keep the issue of abortion out of the proceedings altogether, saying it was like asserting that the trial for abolitionist John Brown was not about slavery.
His 10-minute conversation with abortion opponent Dave Leach is the first in a series recorded last week that will be posted online with Roeder’s blessing, Leach said Tuesday.
Roeder, 51, was convicted Jan. 29 of first-degree murder for shooting Dr. George Tiller last May as the doctor served as an usher at his Wichita church. He will be sentenced March 9.
Roeder told Leach in the phone conversation that he would struggle to summon any sympathy for Tiller’s widow and four adult children.
“The fact that George Tiller was involved in the practice that he was, similar to that of a hit man, if you could have sympathy for a hit man’s family that is the sympathy I would have,” Roeder said. “But every day, George Tiller did not have any sympathy for his victims.”
Roeder maintained he did not regret his actions.
“I didn’t have any regrets except for maybe the fact that if the law had done what it was supposed to do, and stop Mr. Tiller, he would not have had to come to this conclusion,” Roeder said. “The lives of the babies were still being taken, and there had to be action taken to save them.”
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