Abortion Doctor Slay Suspect Chides Media

The man charged in the slaying of late-term abortion provider George Tiller said Thursday he's "being treated as a criminal" even though he hasn't been convicted of anything.

Scott Roeder called The Associated Press on Thursday from the Sedgwick County Jail and disputed characterizations in the media of him as being anti-government, saying he is "anti-corrupt government."

"I haven't been convicted of anything, and I am being treated as a criminal," he said in a telephone conversation that lasted about three minutes.

When asked by the AP to discuss the Tiller shooting, Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., refused to comment, saying he would talk about that later.

Roeder is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing Tiller with a single gunshot as the doctor handed out programs Sunday while ushering at the Lutheran church he attended. Roeder also is accused of assaulting two witnesses before leaving the church and driving away.

Roeder was arrested a few hours later, near the town of Gardner, about 170 miles northeast of Wichita.

He said he has made it through the first several days of his incarceration but is concerned about the media attention his family, particularly his elderly mother, has been getting.

"I appreciate your prayers," he said.

By Associated Press Writers Roxana Hegeman and Maria Sudekum Fisher; AP writers Maria Sudekum Fisher reported from Kansas City, Missouri; Dana Fields in Kansas City, Kansas; Hillary Lehman in Miami and Timothy R. Brown in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed