the Rule of Law… »
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the Rule of Law…

Posted on Tuesday 9 June 2009


The man charged in the shooting death of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller warned Sunday that more violence is possible. Scott Roeder, being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in Tiller’s killing one week ago, called The Associated Press from the Sedgwick County jail. Tiller, whose Wichita clinic was among only a few in the U.S. performing third-trimester abortions, was shot while serving as an usher at the Lutheran church he attended.

"I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," Roeder said. He would not elaborate…

He told the AP he refused to talk to investigators when he was arrested, and has made no statements to police since then. "I just told them I needed to talk to my lawyer," Roeder said…

In two separate calls to AP on Sunday morning, Roeder was far more talkative about his treatment at the Sedgwick County jail, complaining about "deplorable conditions in solitary" where he was kept during his first three days there. Roeder said it was freezing in his cell. "I started having a bad cough. I thought I was going to have pneumonia," he said. He said he called AP because he wanted to emphasize the conditions in the jail so that in the future, suspects would not have to endure the same conditions.

Roeder also said he wanted the public to know he has been denied phone privileges for the past two days, and needed his sleep apnea machine.
No, my point isn’t about Roeder’s claim about there being "more similar events planned around the country." It’s about his complaints about his cell’s temperature, his bad cough, his phone privileges, and his sleep apnea machine.  The article says, "he called AP because he wanted to emphasize the conditions in the jail so that in the future, suspects would not have to endure the same conditions." I had a similar reaction when I saw that video of his arraignment. All he talked about was when he would get to talk to his free court appointed lawyer. He was kind of pushy about that point. He had almost no reaction to being charged with murder.

People like Scott Roeder help me understand why we tortured the prisoners at Gitmo and in our Rendition facilities. My reaction to him was to think, "You just murdered a man you never met in cold blood, and now you’re complaining that you didn’t get to see your free lawyer soon enough? Your cell is too cold? You don’t have a phone to call the AP to terrorize other abortion providers? You miss your [probably free] sleep apnea machine? Give us a break, asshole! You want to find out about apnea? We’ll show you some apnea – by waterboarding you until you tell us everything you know about those ‘similar events’ you’re bragging about!"

It’s kind of hard to work up a big case of empathy for Scott Roeder’s plight. His crime produces powerful feelings. [see, I’m assuming he’s guilty]. My reaction is why we have the Miranda Rights, the requirement to provide him with adequate counsel, habeas corpus, the right to due process and a fair trial, etc. When someone comes along like this, the temptation to depersonalize  him is overwhelming – to extract an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. It transcends everything else if you’re on the other side. After all, he depersonalized Dr. Tiller. Why shouldn’t we depersonalize him?

Over the centuries, we’ve learned not to do that. We don’t torture prisoners of war. We don’t mistreat suspected [or even convicted] criminals. What we do is deprive them of their freedom to walk among us, because they don’t know how to manage the freedoms they were given. But we continue to respect their humanity. We have safeguards against doing exactly what Scott Roeder did – against doing what Bin Laden did – against what Cheney did. It’s called by some, the Rule of Law.

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