A federal grand jury is investigating whether last year's murder of a Kansas abortion doctor was connected to a broader case involving radical anti-abortion activists, a federal law enforcement official familiar with the case said Friday.Back in February, we noted that a federal prosecutor was sitting in on Roeder's trial.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several federal civil rights prosecutors were holding grand jury proceedings in Kansas City, looking into whether a broader case surrounded the May 2009 death of Dr. George Tiller. Tiller was among the few late-term abortion providers in the U.S. before he was fatally shot in his Wichita, Kan., church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder.
One of the offences he -- and hopefully the whole gang of confederates and enablers -- could be charged with is violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. These scumbags need to be taught that there are serious repercussions to cheerleading violence against medical practitioners. It's probably too much to hope for, but we've got our fingers crossed that the feds go after the biggest loudmouth of them all.
And we're hoping that the feds have a good prosecutor on the case.
An aphorism in criminal law states that "A good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich."
MORE. Yup, it seems they're looking for a conspiracy. Two of Roeder's former roommates say they've testified. One named Tim Parks said:
“Based on the questions they asked, they are looking into whether others were involved,” Parks said. “It appeared to me that they are trying to find or fabricate a conspiracy.”
The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.
Also called to appear were members of Roeder's bible study group.
The grand jury hearing apparently focused not on Roeder’s friends in the anti-abortion movement, but on the Bible study group.
. . .
Parks said the federal investigators asked him numerous questions about Roeder’s associates.
“They said something like, ‘Scott doesn’t seem like a lone gunman. He’s not a doer, he’s a follower.’ ”
And inquiring minds would like to know -- a follower of whom?
2 comments:
Great news! Thanks for keeping up on it.
(Something's wrong at ProgBlogs -- go check how many votes you have, I've voted for you FOUR times, and every time I go back there you're still in the sidebar).
ProgBlogs has been up and down all day. Definitely something wonky going on.
The news is great. I'm going to stay on the story.
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