An anti-abortion preacher who spent four years in prison in connection with clinic bombings now wants President Bush to pardon the woman who shot Wichita abortion provider George Tiller 15 years ago.
Shelley Shannon
Rev. Michael Bray of Maryland has an online petition to ask Bush to pardon Shelley Shannon, who shot Tiller at his clinic on Aug. 19, 1993.
Shannon finished serving her Kansas prison time for attempted murder and aggravated assault in April 2005. But she’s now serving a federal sentence in Dublin, Calif., in connection with the shooting. She also was convicted of fire and bombing attacks on other abortion clinics, including those in Oregon, California and Nevada, which authorities learned about through letters she wrote from jail following Tiller’s shooting.
Bray said in a statement on his Web site, defending Shannon: “Unfortunately, as with all anti-abortion cases where the defenders of the innocents are charged with crimes and brought before the judges in this land, there is no consideration given
to the ‘defense of necessity’ -– that these interventions were necessary because a true human being is murdered in every intentional abortion.”
Bray was sentenced to prison in 1985 in connection with the bombings of seven abortion clinics and has written about the use of force in stopping abortion. Some consider him a terrorist. Others call him a hero.
“The suggestion of pardoning a violent criminal for the attempted murder of Dr. Tiller and attacks on abortion clinics highlights the twisted notion of life held by these domestic right-to-life terrorists, ” said Dan Monnat, a Wichita lawyer who represents Tiller. “Her letters, which you can find on the Internet, say ‘don’t insult me by saying I’ve repented.’ “
Updated with link to KSN story
Most of the people around the Sedgwick County Courthouse, and around Wichita, know I use Twitter to help cover hearings and trials live from the courtroom. You can even follow the updates if you don’t sign up, using the my Twitter feed at the left of this page.
But lawyers are using Twitter to do research and pass professional information.
I follow several lawyers, including Anne Reed — an expert on juries from Milwaukee, whom I met via Twitter when I began “tweeting” my first trial.
A former lawyer, Grant Griffiths, recently posted a series on his blog on “How to Use Twitter as a Lawyer.”
As Griffiths points out, JDScoop gets you started with “145 lawyers (and legal professionals) to follow on Twitter.”
And Kevin O’Keefe, another Wisconsin lawyer, has a post on how to use Twitter to market a law firm.
There’s apparently a lot of tweeting out on in, and outside, the courtrooms.
Update: For more on Twitter basics, see this report from fellow tweeter Anita Cochran.
James Fleetwood will become the new chief judge for Sedgwick County District Court, the Kansas Supreme Court announced this morning.
Judge Fleetwood
Fleetwood will oversee the administration and other activities in the courthouse. He takes over for Michael Corrigan, who is retiring in January. Fleetwood will fill out the final year of Corrigan’s appointment, then be eligible for reappointment to two-year terms.
“I hear it’s even more stressful,” Fleetwood said from his office this morning. “There’s just so many employee issues and making sure everything runs smoothly.”
Fleetwood was elected to the Sedgwick County bench in 1997, after serving two years in general private practice. He began his career in the environmental law section of Koch Industries Inc. He’s a 1989 graduate of Washburn University School of Law.
For the past year, Fleetwood has served as the presiding judge of the civil courts.
