Doctor’s killer discusses militant views in 1996 video being released

? An anti-abortion activist who in 1996 discussed anti-government militancy in an interview with Scott Roeder, the convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider, is releasing that interview on video.

In the video, which The Associated Press obtained Monday, Roeder also tells Dave Leach how he was appealing his conviction earlier that year for carrying bomb-making materials in his unlicensed vehicle. Roeder said he had no intention of hurting anyone with the explosives.

Roeder, 51, was convicted Jan. 29 of first-degree murder in the May shooting of Dr. George Tiller. He was also found guilty on two counts of aggravated assault. He will be sentenced March 9.

In the nearly 50-minute interview, which was initially aired in October 1996 on Leach’s “Uncle Ed Show” on Des Moines’ public access cable, Roeder talks about the Freeman philosophy he followed.

The Montana Freemen were militant patriots who gained notoriety in the ’90s for their anti-tax rhetoric, threats against public officials and money schemes. Calling themselves sovereign citizens, the Freemen schooled followers across the nation. Their Kansas offshoot faded into obscurity in the spring of 1996, when the FBI arrested Montana Freeman leader LeRoy Schweitzer and began an 81-day standoff at their compound in Jordan, Mont.

Roeder, from Kansas City, Mo., tells Leach that as a Freeman, he believes he has a “God-given right to travel” without a driver’s license.

“Under God’s law you are free to do anything that does not break God’s law and does not harm anyone else,” Roeder said at the time.

He told The Associated Press last September that the Freemen were not interested in fighting the abortion issue. Roeder does not specifically discuss abortion in the video.

The video provides no new insight into Roeder’s beliefs but reinforces a long-term relationship between the two anti-abortion activists.

Leach posted a preview of that interview Monday on YouTube and plans to sell copies for $20.