Judge Warren Wilbert won't allow former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is testify before the jury at the trial of Scott Roeder, who is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.
Kline was questioned before Wilbert earlier this morning by defense attorney Mark Rudy. But the jury wasn't present as Kline described how Tiller preformed abortions, talked about his inquisition into Tiller's clinic and, when asked, said Roeder's actions were unreasonable.
Wilbert has repeated that he will allow Roeder to discuss his beliefs.
Watch the live stream at KCTV 5's Web site.
During yesterday's trial, attorneys and Judge Wilbert clashed over whether Roeder would be allowed to share his beliefs with the jury, The Kansas City Star reported.
Here's what Wilbert had to say:
"Scott Roeder can testify to his personal beliefs, and the court's prepared to give him some pretty wide latitude, and I'm sure he's not going to paint Dr. Tiller in a very complimentary fashion," Wilbert said. However, he added, "I want to re-emphasize, we are not going to make this a referendum on abortion.Roeder's defense team is trying to make a case that Roeder killed Tiller to save the lives of unborn babies."We're not going to discuss partial-birth abortions, we're not going to discuss late-term abortions and actual medical procedures. But his personally held beliefs in general about abortion, whether it's harmful, whether it terminates a viable baby, he's going to get to testify to that."
The Star also reports that Wilbert also told the defense they could ask the court to reveal
Tiller's misdemeanor cases to the jury.
Prosecutors weren't happy.
"The comments that the court has made are of grave concernto me," [Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston] said. "The
state does not believe any of this mish-mesh is relevant and material
to the issues in this case. This is totally outside the scope of what a
reasonable jury should be entitled to hear in the courtroom."
Local blogger Mo Rage agrees and is calling on Judge Wilbert to recuse himself. He says a new trial should be ordered.
There's a chance Roeder could take the witness stand today.
For all things Roeder trial, check out the Wichita Eagle's special section and reporter Ron Sylvester's up-to-the-minute Twitter updates.
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