Nov. 15, Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas Department of Corrections officials have embarrassed themselves and damaged their organization's credibility by filing an ethics complaint against local attorney Keen Umbehr.

They should drop the trivial action and move on to addressing the alarming problems that Umbehr helped expose in their system.

Umbehr ran afoul of KDOC for inviting Capital-Journal investigative reporter Tim Carpenter to accompany him to the Topeka Correctional Facility for interviews with two inmates last August. ...

The interviews helped lead to stories revealing illegal sexual relationships and traffic of contraband in the prison. Carpenter's reporting compelled Gov. Mark Parkinson to order an independent review of the prison system, and the Legislative Division of Post Audit also launched an investigation.

At that point, you might have thought KDOC would have bigger fish to fry than to lodge the complaint against Umbehr -- like turning its full attention to improving prison security measures and increasing supervision of corrections workers.

But no. Corrections officials managed to find the time and resources to launch a smear attack against the attorney and, by extension, Carpenter. ...

KDOC claims Umbehr gained access for Carpenter by misrepresenting the reporter's occupation, an allegation the attorney vehemently denies. He says KDOC got its facts wrong and that the department is acting unethically by trying to squelch the inmates' rights to free speech ... .

The bottom line in the Topeka Correctional Facility case is Umbehr and Carpenter together gave a voice to inmates who wouldn't have had one otherwise and exposed problems that desperately needed to be brought to the public's attention. ...

Nov. 12, The Wichita Eagle

Scott Roeder dwells in the Sedgwick County Jail these days, awaiting trial early next year on charges that he gunned down George Tiller in a Wichita church in May. But judging from Roeder's unrepentant confessions to the murder this week in the media, Roeder also lives in some other world in which a cold-blooded killing can be justified by the cockamamie excuse of his choosing.

"Defending innocent life -- that is what prompted me. It is pretty simple," he told Associated Press.

"Preborn children were in imminent danger," he told the Kansas City Star. ...

But Tiller's practice was legal under the law, despite the best efforts of a former Kansas attorney general and several grand juries to demonstrate otherwise over many years.

The actions to which Roeder now has confessed in the media violate both law and conscience.

And his public defender says that the "necessity defense" isn't even allowed in Kansas. ...

Like any other alleged criminal in the local jail, Roeder is entitled to the full measure of justice under Kansas law. But it will be most regrettable if Roeder continues to pass the time behind bars by trumpeting this nonsense he considers a defense.

Join the Discussion:

Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.

Frank says....
I'm unable to understand how Roeder's assassination of a doctor in his church is any different than the Taliban stoning women to death for supposed affairs, or killing educators who taught women or girls in Afghanistan's schools.
11/21/2009

---

Post a comment
Your best chance of getting your comment posted:

• No profanity
• Be civil
• Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Comment:

Poster:

Enter text seen above:

Read our full use policy.