Saturday, November 14, 2009

Scott Roeder Wants Dr. Tiller's Schedule

We're not really sure what to think of this one. Scott Roeder's defense team filed a motion for discovery on Thursday that asks the Court to order the production of:
Any and all professional calanders, appointment books, records of scheduled procedures, or similar documents, either in electronic form or written form, or both, of the victim Dr. George Tiller, for the dates May 1, 2009 - June 30, 2009.
Our first thought was that Phill Kline had taken over the defense and was trying to get patient information again. Dr. Tiller was murdered on May 31, 2009 so the records for the month of May are really confusing.

The June records could be argued, we guess, as part of a necessity defense (i.e. there were abortions scheduled so this was necessary). That would be inconsistent with the comments from the defense attorneys however that they have told Roeder that was not a valid defense and they would not be pursuing it.

This may be nothing more than a "client control" motion. One that is filed at the behest of the client and the Judge gets to knock it down instead of the attorneys being the bad guys - but given the nature of this case we doubt that.

At this point we're bothered by the request - but - as we don't know the inner workings of the case we're going to withhold judgment. There may be a very valid reason for this request and if so then it should be granted. We're not dealing with Kline and his ilk so at this point, we're comfortable with the wait.

What are you thoughts? Post a comment and let us know why you think this request has been made.
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3 comments:

  1. Looks like Roeder is fishing for an alibi. I would not give him those records. They are privileged information. He does not have any right to them.

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  2. He's admitted he did it so he can't be looking for an alibi. Still scratching our heads on this one.

    If the defense can establish a need they will get what they are asking for - but probably with names deleted.

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  3. I'm trying to figure out the defense motion.

    If Roeder knew that Doctor Tiller was going to perform an illegal abortion, he could argue that. Getting the records is an admission that Roeder had no idea what procedure Tiller was going to perform on whom, and what may have constituted illegality, or he could have specified which patient's records he was seeking.

    What his attorney is doing is going on a fishing expedition that shouldn't be allowed, but one assumes, is hoping that the denial of the motion gives him grounds for appeal.

    I find it doubly ironic that Roeder, who doesn't recognize the authority of the state or pay taxes, has used the public defender before to get himself sprung from the transporting bombs charges, and is using the public defender now to beat the assassination charges.

    How "anti-government" can you get?

    He fits right in with the rest of the Operation Rescue people... They manage to chronically and simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs without any apparent distress. You would think that their heads would have exploded long ago.

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