Avoiding 'abortion' in murder trial of Kansas doctor
By WICHITA, Kan. - On the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, prosecutors who charged a man with killing one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers managed to get through the first day of testimony without mentioning the word abortion in front of jurors.. Instead, they tried to focus on the facts - a doctor gunned down in his church - rather than allow the trial to become a debate over abortion.. But what lawyers simply called the "a-word" when the jury was not present was the most contentious issue in court Friday. Prosecutors have said they do not even want abortion mentioned.. That could change in the coming days when Scott Roeder's defense team has a chance to try to argue he believed the killing was justified to save unborn children.. Witnesses recalled the scene at a Wichita church on May 31, when Dr. George Tiller was scheduled to serve as an usher. Church member Kathy Wegner testified that she saw Tiller enter the fellowship hall and then heard a sound like a balloon popping. She saw a flash and watched Tiller "just fall flat on his back.". Earlier Friday, District Judge Warren Wilbert denied a defense request to move the trial out of Wichita and a request from prosecutors to block a voluntary manslaughter defense.. Wilbert has repeatedly said the trial will not turn into a debate over abortion, warning Roeder's lawyers that he intends to keep the case as a "criminal, first-degree murder trial." But the judge galvanized both sides of the abortion battle when he refused to bar the defense from trying to build a case for a conviction on the lesser charge.. Roeder, 51, has publicly confessed to shooting Tiller. If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces a life sentence.