John Burt

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John Burt is an American pro-life activist and minister who was the Northwest Florida regional director of the national anti-abortion group Rescue America.[1]

Burt is a former Marine and Ku Klux Klan member.[1] He became involved with the pro-life movement in the early 1980s. In 1986, he ransacked an abortion clinic, and was convicted of burglary and assault.[1] He was a self-professed "spiritual adviser" to a group of activists who bombed three abortion clinics in 1984.[1]

During an abortion clinic protest in Pensacola, Florida, Michael F. Griffin shot and killed Dr. David Gunn. During Griffin's trial, his defense attorneys argued that Burt "brainwashed" Griffin and drove him to commit murder.[1]

Burt and his wife ran Our Father's House, a home for troubled girls in Milton, Florida. In 2005, Burt was convicted of five counts of lewd or lascivious conduct for improperly touching and propositioning a 15-year-old girl at the home, and sentenced to 18 years in state prison.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Larry Rohter. "Towering Over the Abortion Foe's Trial: His Leader", The New York Times, March 5, 1994. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 
  2. ^ Bill Kaczor. "Florida anti-abortion activist gets 18 years for molesting teen", San Diego Union-Tribune, May 13, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 


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