Man charged in abortion doctor slaying

WICHITA, Kan., June 2 (UPI) -- Scott Roeder, the man suspected of killing a Wichita, Kan., abortion doctor, made his first court appearance Tuesday from jail via closed-circuit TV.

Roeder, 51, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the Sunday slaying of Dr. George Tiller, The Wichita Eagle reported.

The suspect, who wore a red jail jumpsuit and shackles during his appearance, also is to have no contact with two men he allegedly pointed a gun at after shooting Tiller while he was at church, Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess ordered.

Roeder requested a lawyer and will be assigned a public defender, the newspaper said. His next court appearance is set for June 16 when a preliminary hearing will be held.

Roeder's ex-wife says he spent an unusual amount of time with his grown son before the shooting.

"In hindsight, my son said, 'He was saying goodbye to me,'" the Kansas City Star reported Lindsey Roeder as saying about her former husband.

She said it was very unusual for Roeder to break his Old Testament Christian beliefs of keeping the Sabbath from Friday night through Saturday. But last weekend he made an exception to be with his 22-year-old son, taking him to see the movie "Star Trek" and seemingly wanting to linger with him.

Police say they used a license plate number provided by witnesses to track down the man suspected of shooting Tiller in the face while the doctor served as an usher during a Lutheran church service, arresting Roeder about four hours later, the newspaper said.

Lindsey Roeder said her ex-husband began to change in the early 1990s after "someone told him that paying income taxes isn't constitutional. ... From there, things just started like a snowball."