Posted on Fri, Jun. 05, 2009

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Roeder bond set at $5 million

The assistant district attorney did not dispute that bond should be set and requested that bond be set at $10 million.

BY RON SYLVESTER

The Wichita Eagle

Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert on Thursday set a $5 million bond for Scott Roeder, who remains in jail on first-degree murder charges in the shooting of George Tiller.

Wilbert set the bond after Roeder's public defender, Steve Osburn, filed a motion pointing out that Kansas law prevented defendants charged in non-capital cases from being held without bond.

During his initial court hearing on Tuesday, Roeder had been ordered held without bond.

Roeder's charge could bring life in prison if he's convicted, but he would not face the death penalty.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker didn't dispute that bond needed to be set and requested $10 million.

A hearing had originally been set for this morning, but with no objections from either side, Wilbert decided to set bond Thursday.

For more than a century, Kansas law has dictated that nearly all criminal defendants should get bail.

Section 9 of the Kansas Bill of Rights in the state constitution says: "All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties except for capital offenses."

Since 1920, the Kansas Supreme Court has held that judges couldn't withhold bail except in capital cases with the strongest evidence.

Roeder, 51, was given a public defender after filling out a court affidavit saying he couldn't afford to hire an attorney. He listed his occupation as working for an airport delivery service making $1,100 a month.

Tiller was shot and killed Sunday morning in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita. He attended the church and had been volunteering as an usher.

Roeder, of Kansas City, Mo., was arrested about three hours later, after his car was stopped by police on the Kansas Turnpike in Johnson County.

Reach Ron Sylvester at 316-268-6514 or rsylvester@wichitaeagle.com.

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