The man accused of shooting three people to death and wounding nine others at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado was due in court on Wednesday to face formal charges expected to include multiple counts of first-degree murder.
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“While his lawyers were discussing pretty routine matters related to the future media coverage, Dear suddenly shouted that he’s guilty and that he’s ‘a warrior for the babies, ‘” Markus said.
The Gazette reported that Dear was due back in court on December 23.
Addressing the judge, defence attorney Dan King raised the issue of Dear’s mental competency to stand trial, saying, “I think the problem is obvious”.
This post has been updated.
In total, prosecutors announced 179 charges against Dear, including eight first-degree murder charges and 131 attempted first-degree murder charges. Atrocities. The babies. That’s what they want to seal, ” Dear said during the hearing.
Reporter Rick Sallinger overheard Robert’s rage, and said the accused shooter also claimed, “You’ll never know the amount of blood I saw in that place”.
King was a member of the legal team that represented Aurora theater shooter James Holmes. Of those, one was an Iraq war veteran, one was a mother of two and the third was a campus police officer who responded to the gunfire.
“Do you know who this lawyer is?”, Dear said during the court appearance.
“I’m guilty. There’s no trial”.
“Protect the babies!” he yelled at a different point. No Planned Parenthood staff were injured in the rampage.
“I won’t be at all surprised to find out that someone who is unstable can easily be motivated or manipulated by extreme rhetoric”, Dawn Laguens, the executive vice-president of Planned Parenthood, told the Guardian.
Dear, 57, has been described by relatives and neighbors as a loner with an anti-government worldview, and as a person who has expressed extreme anti-abortion views, according to an ex-wife and others.
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Abortion-rights groups say the publication of a series of videos purporting to show clinic workers across the country offering to sell fetal tissue have led to a surge in violence against abortion clinics.
