Justice is served in Kansas

After scaring us all with the possibility of a "voluntary manslaughter" charge (in which someone can get out of jail in a mere five years as long as they believed killing someone else Really Really Needed Doing Honest Cross My Heart, however "unreasonable" that belief) the jury took slightly over half an hour to convict Roeder of Murder One.

Because yes, it fucking IS premeditated murder to fantasize about maiming or killing someone, buying a gun, taking target practice, stalking the victim to find the "best" place to blow them away, showing up armed at the planned assassination spot THREE TIMES, and finally running up, putting a gun against the victim's skull, and pulling the trigger from point-blank range. No matter how many times "Tiller the baby killer" is repeated, that's pretty much the textbook definition of first degree homicide.

According to one news report, Roeder was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault; I'm assuming that this is for the men in the church who tried to stop him and who he also threatened to shoot.


In other excellent reproductive rights news, England is announcing a new form of emergency contraception that can be used up to 5 days after.