Abortion Doc Killer Files Papers, Seeks Release

The convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider has filed a petition complaining of his treatment in prison and seeking his release.

A hearing on Scott Roeder's habeus corpus petition is scheduled for June 4 before Judge Timothy Henderson in Wichita. A habeus corpus petition requires a judge to determine whether the government can continue to hold a prisoner.

The court docket shows Roeder filed the initial paperwork himself in February. His court-appointed attorney, Michael Brown, could not immediately be reached for comment.

All the documents in a separate civil case involving Roeder have been sealed.

The murder case against him for killing Dr. George Tiller is now under appeal.

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Roeder, 52, won't be eligible for parole for at least 50 years for shooting Tiller.

"I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby," Roeder said in court during his sentencing hearing earlier this month. "Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller."

District Judge Warren Wilbert could have made Roeder eligible for parole on the murder charge after 25 years. But he said there was evidence Roeder stalked Tiller and added that killing him in a church made the crime heinous because a house of worship is meant to be "a place of peace and tranquility."

Roeder accused Wilbert of "duplicity" and said his trial was a miscarriage of justice because he wasn't allowed to present testimony then about the evils of abortion. He also said God's judgment against the U.S. will "sweep over this land like a prairie wind."