Repeated outbursts by the suspected Planned Parenthood shooter during his second court appearance Wednesday could force the judge to consider whether Robert Lewis Dear is mentally ill or was simply acting on firmly held political beliefs.
Notably, Dear cried out "I'm a warrior for the babies!" and "I'm guilty" even as his defense attorney, Daniel King, asked the judge to order an evaluation of his mental competency. If Dear was found mentally incompetent to stand trial the proceedings would be suspended while he is treated, reports Dan Elliott:
Dear left no doubt he wants to trumpet his beliefs. When King asked the judge to seal the case records to avoid pretrial publicity, Dear said: "Seal the truth, huh? Kill the babies. That's what Planned Parenthood does."
Later, he said: "Planned Parenthood and my lawyer are in cahoots to shut me up. They don't want the truth out." [...]
If tried and convicted, Dear would have the right to explain himself at his sentencing hearing.
"The defendant can pretty much say what they want to say," said Dan Recht, a longtime Denver defense lawyer. "They can't use vulgarity, they can't talk for 20 hours, but within broad limits, they can say pretty much what they want to say before sentence is imposed."
Frankly, as vile as it would surely be, that's a rant that could shed some light on exactly where this mad man drew his inspiration from. We already know that "baby parts" figured into his thinking—a parroting of the words employed by anti-abortion activists who recently advanced the lie that Planned Parenthood was profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. Other words or phrases that could be linked back the anti-abortion movement could highlight how their crusade to demonize abortions and the medical professionals who perform them can seep into vulnerable minds and yield horrific carnage.