There remains the possibility of an "anti-terrorist" result from the trial of Dr. Tiller's murderer, as the defense convened a number of "witnesses" purportedly to show that the belief that murder of abortionists is justified may have influenced the defendant.

The defense was permitted to present their arguments before the judge in chambers, but the judge quite properly ruled that their defense did not support a plea to a reduced manslaughter charge under Kansas law, so that "defense" was not permitted with the jury present, and none of the witnesses actually appeared in the court. It is not clear whether the defense brought any of them into the hearing in chambers.

Their identities, however, are a part of the court record since subpoenas were issued to have them present. The list is a short who's-who of persons and organizations who may be potentially violent, or have advocated violence, although it's obvious that the defense omitted requesting subpoenas for "controversial" agitators. (Pat Robertson was not invited.)

The FBI, ATF, Homeland Security, and some others had observers present at the trial, and while their comments after trial were "terse" there is some likelihood that one or more of the agencies may pursue further investigations, or do have investigations in progress. The list of those invited as potential "character witnesses" was so sanitized that there probably was little not already known by the interested agencies, but at least there was a show of interest.

John