The suspected arrested in the murder of Dr. George Tiller has been identified as 51 year old Scott Roeder of Merriman, KS. [Update: McClatchy has more on him here.]

Authorities expect to charge Roeder with murder today.

[[Roeder]was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News.... Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines who runs the newsletter... said he and Mr. Roeder had met once, and Mr. Roeder had described similar views to his own.

Of Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach said, “To call this a crime is too simplistic,” adding, “There is Christian scripture that would support this."

An Operation Rescue leader released a contrary view: [More...]

DougJ provides us this testimonial from a commenter about Dr. George Tiller:

In 1994 my wife and I found out that she was pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and unusually uncomfortable but her doctor repeatedly told her things were fine. Sometime early in the 8th month my wife, an RN who at the time was working in an infertility clinic asked the Dr. she was working for what he thought of her discomfort. He examined her and said that he couldn’t be certain but thought that she might be having twins. We were thrilled and couldn’t wait to get a new sonogram that hopefully would confirm his thoughts.

[MORE . . .]

Bump and Update: Dr. Tiller's family released this statement through his defense lawyer, Dan Monnat. Planned Parenthood's statement is here. The arrested suspect is a white male. President Obama's statement:

"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

Breaking....Kansas abortion clinic doctor George Tiller was shot and killed at his church this morning. [More...]

Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life today for the death of Lana Clarkson.

His lawyer said he was wrongfully convicted:

Attorney Doron Weinberg maintained that Spector was convicted wrongly. “The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the lawyer said.

The sentence included 15 years for second-degree murder, with a four year enhancement for gun possession. He showed no emotion during the sentencing.

What a difference a verdict makes.

A little over a month ago, [Helio Castroneves] was facing deportation or prison over tax-evasion charges. A brilliant racing career and his freedom rested in the hands of a Miami jury.

The Brazilian racer was acquitted on April 17. Today he won his third Indianapolis 500.

[more...]

Update: DOJ press release and Indictment available here.

This is quite a story. Paul Bergrin, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey (whose father was a police officer) has spent the past several years defending gang members and drug dealers. He pleaded guilty to running an escort service. Apparently, he was also under federal investigation.

Now he's got much bigger troubles. A federal grand jury in New Jersey has indicted him for racketeering and ordering the murders of two snitches who planned to testify against his clients. The charges also include witness tampering and mortgage fraud.

"The conduct alleged is simply shocking," said Ralph Marra, the acting New Jersey U.S. attorney. "A licensed lawyer, a former prosecutor, essentially became one of the criminals he represents."

Bergrin, a one-time lieutenant to self-proclaimed "King of All Pimps" Jason Itzler, had a government informant gunned down in an attempt to derail a federal case against one of his drug-dealer clients, prosecutors say.

In the second murder attempt, [More...]

Abduwali Muse, the young, 5'2" Somali pirate, was indicted by a federal grand jury this week. The charges include piracy and violence against maritime navigation. (Indictment available here (pdf.) Bloomberg reports that if convicted, he faces mandatory life in prison. Today, he pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Muse is not faring well at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan. He's being held in isolation and his lawyers have asked for medical aid. They say he's only been allowed a one minute phone call to his mother in Somalia. He requires surgery on his hand and has another undisclosed medical condition. According to one of his lawyers: [More...]

The British Press is awash in reports that Texas Billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, under investigation by the SEC, caught breaks in prior investigations due to his working for the DEA as a confidential informant into money laundering. More from the Independent and the BBC.

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Kent was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison today for obstructing justice in the investigation of sexual harassment claims against him. Prosecutors had asked for 36 months.

He was granted a voluntary surrender and will report to prison next month.

Kent has asked for early retirement and is still being paid his salary. His salary continues until he resigns or is impeached. He was on the bench for 18 years.

There are no more members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in prison. The last one, James Kilgore, was released today. Kilgore was extradited from South Africa in 2002 after agreeing to a six year prison sentence.

Kilgore, now 61, served his sentence at the High Desert State Prison in California. He spent 27 years on the run before being extradited.

When alleged criminal behavior is compared to an episode of Desperate Housewives, it must be worthy of a TalkLeft mention. Margery Tannenbaum of Haupage, New York was angered by an unspecified dispute between her daughter and her neighbor's daughter. Whether Tannenbaum is less mature or no more mature than her 9-year-old daughter is unclear. It is clear that her decision to take revenge upon the neighbor by posting an ad in the "casual encounters" section of Craiglist was childish. The ad said "Looking for a good time? w4m21" followed by her neighbor's telephone number. Why not just phone in a few prank pizza delivery orders and let it go at that?

After taking 22 calls from men looking for a good time, the neighbor may have been desperate for a new telephone number. Revenge begets revenge, as Tannenbaum learned when the police arrested her for aggravated harassment.

If Tannenbaum thought she was standing up for her daughter, her strategy backfired. At this point, Tannenbaum's daughter must be mortified by her mother's existence.

From time to time, TalkLeft calls your attention to interesting reports of odd crimes or blundering criminals. This story seemed unworthy of note until the lavatory hand soap made its appearance.

United Airlines diverted a flight bound to London after an incoherent and disruptive passenger, apparently woozy from a combination of pills, alcohol and lavatory hand soap, allegedly tried to bite a flight attendant in the leg.

Really, it would be hard to write a better lede than that one. The soap ingester in question is Galina Rusanova, "described by the British press as a Russian-born artist, actress and author who rubs elbows with the rich and famous." To cope with her fear of flying, Rusanova took four sleeping pills and drank two or three bottles of wine. Three hours into the flight from Los Angeles (where she was visiting a fellow she met on the internet), the story gets interesting: [more ...]