I certainly don't envy Judge Warren Wilbert of the Kansas 18th Judicial District. He's the one presiding over the murder trial of Scott ("You Got a Problem With That?") Roeder, on trial for a crime which he has never denied--the premeditated killing of an abortion doctor. Apparently Wilbert has to face the voters in a partisan election; I assume that anything less than an outright acquittal is bound to haunt him at the polls and an outright murder conviction probably means tht his career is toast.
It's ironic that we are still fighting this issue in this way. As far as I can see, the anti-abortion campaign is one war the terrorists have won: the Center for Disease Countrol counts just 820,151 abortions nationwide in 2005, down by 43 percent from the 1991 peak. There may be any number of reasons: perhaps better contraception, less shame about out of wedlock pregnancy, better (until lately!) economic times. It would be interesting--albeit impossible--to know how many were prevented by bullying and intimidation, not to mention outright murder.
But given the intensity of the feelings in the case--indeed, the risk of further violence--isn't this precisely the kind of trial that ought to be conducted out of the spotlight--by, say, a military tribunal in an obscure corner of a Carribbean island? If ever there is a case where the civilian courts can't be trusted. If ever there were a case where we seem determined to criminalize what amounts to an act of war, it is this one. Dick Cheney, where are you now that we need you?
H/T John, who made sure I didn't overlook it.
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