Roeder's Jailhouse Interview: "Obviously I Didn't Do Anything Wrong"

In an audio interview posted Monday on YouTube, Scott Roeder said he had little sympathy for his victim George Tiller’s family. He explained, “if you could have sympathy for a hit man’s family, that is the sympathy I would have.”

Roeder, who is currently awaiting his sentencing hearing, said of Tiller’s family, “If they would have talked the man into stopping his practice many years ago, this would not have had to happen.” Here he echoes statements he made to the AP last year — he said Tiller’s wife Jeanne should have prayed to get her husband to stop performing abortions. Roeder also disputes a claim that he was heard to say “Lord forgive me” after shooting Tiller. He says,

Obviously I didn’t do anything wrong. So I would not have had to ask forgiveness. It’s no different than if someone goes into your home and is trying to attack you or your family, and you took action to save yourself or your family, you don’t have to ask forgiveness for that.

With some prompting from interviewer David Leach, Roeder also criticizes those who argued that abortion shouldn’t be an issue in his trial. He said, “It would be like the man who was quoted as saying something like having a trial for John Brown but saying it was not over slavery!” UPI points out that Roeder’s post-trial comments are unusual, because defendants usually avoid speaking publicly before sentencing in order not to incur a longer prison term. However, Roeder either does not care or is pretending not to care about his fate. And he has many supporters willing to help him get his message out.

Leach, who posted the video on YouTube, also helped organize a short-lived eBay auction to benefit Roeder’s defense. He is apparently planning more of the interviews. Roeder also has allies in his criticism of Jeanne Tiller — the AP reports that anti-abortion advocate Donald Spitz took her to task for coming to Roeder’s trial in clothes paid for with “the blood of unborn children.”

A federal investigation could reveal any accomplices who aided Roeder in his crime, but Leach and Spitz aren’t breaking the law. What they are doing is showing that murder in the service of anti-abortion beliefs can garner messages of support, even fame. America now has a network of, if not anti-choice terrorists, then at least terrorist-enablers, and if another zealot with little to lose repeats Roeder’s crime, these enablers will bear some responsibility.

Roeder: No Sympathy For Tiller’s Family [UPI.com]
Antiabortion Killer Has Little Sympathy For Tiller’s Family [AP, via LA Times]

Earlier: Federal Charges Could Reveal Roeder Accomplices
Breaking: Scott Roeder Found Guilty Of First-Degree Murder
Despite Efforts, Tiller Murderer’s Drawings Added To eBay
Anti-Abortion Zealots Turn To Effigies, EBay