Topic: CNSNews.com
A June 2 CNSNews.com article by Penny Starr baselessly claimed that Scott Roeder, the convicted killer of abortion doctor George Tiller, is "a mentally unstable man." Starr offered no evidence to back up her claim.
In fact, while Roeder family members claimed immediately after the shooting that Roeder suffered from mental illness, Roeder did not mount an insanity defense at his trial; indeed, Roeder attempted to justify his actions as necessary. Further, a psychologist hired by the defense found Roeder competent to stand trial.
Starr has previously referenced Roeder's alleged mental problems (also without supporting evidence) in an apparent effort to distance the murder of Tiller from the anti-abortion movement from culpability in Tiller's death -- as others in the ConWeb have done -- despite Roeder's association with the mainstream anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and a tacit endorsement of Roeder's actions by prominent anti-abortion figure Randall Terry, whose protest of President Obama's 2009 speaking appearance at Notre Dame CNS had favorably reported on.
