Shelley Shannon

Rachelle Ranae "Shelley" Shannon (born 1956) is an anti-abortion gunwoman, saboteur, and rhetorician from Grants Pass, Oregon. She shot Dr. George Tiller in both arms, outside his abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, on August 19, 1993.[1][2][3] She is serving her sentence at FCI Waseca, a prison in Minnesota, and her projected release date is November 7, 2018.[4]

Contents

Attempted murder of George Tiller

On August 19, 1993, Shelley Shannon shot Dr. George Tiller in both arms, outside his Wichita, Kansas clinic.[1][2][3]

At the time she shot Tiller, Shannon had been a part of the anti-abortion movement for at least five years. She had written in support of Michael Griffin, the murderer of Dr. David Gunn, calling Griffin "the awesomest, greatest hero of our time." Tiller's Wichita clinic was the site of frequent demonstrations and incidents of direct action by those opposed to abortion rights and of counter-demonstrations by abortion rights activists. Under cover of such a fracas, Shannon shot Tiller with a semiautomatic pistol.[5]

Tiller was later assassinated on May 31, 2009, by Scott Roeder.

Trial and imprisonment

At her trial in state court, Shannon testified that there was nothing immoral about trying to kill Tiller.[5] The jurors deliberated for an hour.[6] They convicted her of attempted murder.[6] She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.[5]

While incarcerated in Lansing, Kansas, Shannon signed the Army of God's statement in support of the actions of Paul Jennings Hill.[7]

On June 4, 1995, she pleaded guilty to setting fires at several abortion clinics in Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada. She had been indicted by federal grand juries on 30 counts in connection with fires and butyric acid attacks at nine clinics. Charges included arson, interference with commerce by force and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.[8][9] On September 9, 1995, U.S. Federal District Court Judge James A. Redden sentenced Shannon to 20 years in prison--a substantial upward departure from sentencing guidelines. In sentencing her, Redden called her a terrorist. The sentence was set to begin only after Shannon's 10-year incarceration for shooting Tiller is completed.[10]

Her daughter, Angela Shannon (born ca. 1974),[11] was prosecuted for sending a death threat in 1993 to George Woodward, a Milwaukee doctor who performed abortions. (The letter arrived on March 3, 1993 — a week before the murder of David Gunn.) The elder Shannon attempted to take the blame for the death threat, but in view of Angela's fingerprints having been found on the letter, Angela was convicted and sentenced to 46 months' incarceration in 1997.[12]

In 1998, Shelley Shannon filed a lawsuit contending that the sewage system in the Kansas prison was inadequate, and that sewage backups created unhealthful conditions for the inmates. Her lawsuit was dismissed by Federal District Court Judge Kathryn Vratil in Kansas City, Kansas. The dismissal was upheld by a 2-1 vote of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.[13]

External links

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Phillips, Don. (August 22, 1993). "Violence Hardly Ruffled Protest Ritual." The Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
  2. ^ a b NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. (2006). Clinic violence and intimidation. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
  3. ^ a b Crow, Karen. (August 19, 2005). A Violent Week in August. Choice! Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
  4. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Locator. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Harriet Ryan, Court TV, Kopp fifth clinic shooter to face trial, March 11, 2003. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Time Magazine, The Week March 20-26, April 4, 1994. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  7. ^ THE SECOND DEFENSIVE ACTION STATEMENT Army of God website, retrieved 2010-11-11.
  8. ^ The Washington Post, Antiabortion Extremist Indicted in Attacks on Clinics in West , October 25, 1994. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  9. ^ New York Times, Guilty Plea Expected In Fires at Clinics, June 4, 1995. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  10. ^ New York Times, Woman Gets 20-Year Sentence In Attacks on Abortion Clinics, September 9, 1995. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  11. ^ Denny Walsh, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, '93 LETTER, Jun 6, 1996. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  12. ^ FindLaw.com, USA v SHANNON 97-10057. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  13. ^ Robert Boczkiewicz, The Topeka Capital-Journal, Sewage lawsuit dismissal upheld, Jul 11, 2001. Retrieved January 9, 2007.