Resentencing date unclear for man who killed Wichita abortion doctor

It’s still unclear when the man who killed local abortion provider George Tiller in 2009 will be resentenced.

Scott Roeder, 58, appeared in Sedgwick County District Court with his court-appointed defense attorneys on Thursday afternoon to discuss their progress on the case and mull over just when a jury will be empaneled to decide whether he should receive a second Hard 50 sentence for Tiller’s 2009 murder.

Initially it was thought that a date for Roeder’s resentencing could be set Thursday. But attorneys asked District Judge Warren Wilbert to allow them additional time to prepare, including tweaking a list of evidence and expert witnesses that jurors will hear favoring a 25-year-to-life sentence — rather than 50-to-life — for Roeder.

He was last in a Sedgwick County courtroom in April to take up matters related to the case.

Roeder faces resentencing for his first-degree premeditated murder conviction because the Kansas Supreme Court vacated his original Hard 50 prison term in response to a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Prosecutors have already said they will ask for another Hard 50 sentence because they think Roeder’s actions posed great risk of death to multiple people and that he killed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel way.

Roeder maintains he shot Tiller inside Reformation Lutheran Church on May 31, 2009, in defense of unborn children. Tiller performed late-term abortions at his east Wichita clinic at 5107 E. Kellogg, which is now home to Trust Women South Wind Women’s Center.

When Roeder is resentenced, he will receive a life prison sentence. But it will be up to jurors to decide whether he should be eligible for parole after 25 or 50 years.

Roeder will return to Wichita for his next hearing Sept. 7. Outstanding legal matters related to his resentencing will be handled at that time. A date for that proceeding could be set then.

Roeder is currently serving his life prison sentence at Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Resentencing date unclear for man who killed Wichita abortion doctor."