WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Jury selection was completed Thursday in the trial of an anti-abortion activist charged with killing Dr. George Tiller at a Wichita, Kan., church.
Opening statements in Scott Roeder's trial were scheduled for Friday morning.
The selection process took six days, with the public and news media barred from most questioning of potential jurors, The Kansas City Star reported. A panel of 14, allowing for two alternates, was seated Thursday afternoon.
Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, allegedly gunned down Tiller May 31 as the doctor served as an usher during a Sunday service.
Tiller's clinic in Wichita was one of the few in the country offering third-trimester abortions. Roeder's lawyer is expected to argue his client had a sincere, if mistaken, belief killing Tiller was necessary to protect unborn children and should be convicted of manslaughter, not murder.
