Dept. of Justice Probes Antiabortion Activist About Ties to Tiller's Murderer

November 30, 2012 — The Department of Justice has requested that a federal judge order a Kansas woman to answer questions about her relationship with the convicted murderer of abortion provider George Tiller, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The woman, Angel Dillard, is accused of sending a threatening letter last year to Mila Means, a doctor who was training to offer abortion care. In the letter, Dillard said that thousands of people in the U.S. were looking into Means' background, writing, "They will know your habits and routines. They know where you shop, who your friends are, what you drive, where you live. You will be checking under your car every day -- because maybe today is the day someone places an explosive under it."

DOJ is attempting to compel Dillard to verify statements she made to the Associated Press in 2009 about her supposed friendship with Scott Roeder, the man convicted of Tiller's death. During the telephone interview, Dillard said she admired Roeder, adding, "I realized that he was able to accomplish what those of us in the pro-life movement had not been able to accomplish," according to the AP.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Gale on Thursday said that Dillard's attorney has until Wednesday to respond to DOJ.

The trial is set for October 2013 (Hegeman, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/29).