I chose , '' he said . '' ... I want to make sure that the focus is , of course , obviously on the preborn children and the necessity to defend them . '' Roeder 's comments prompted prosecutors to file a motion asking Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert to bar Roeder 's attorneys from using the defense . Wilbert noted that the Kansas Supreme Court , in a previous case regarding blocking entrance to an abortion clinic , ruled the necessity defense can not be used when the harm the defendant claims to be avoiding through his or her actions is a constitutional and legal activity , and the defendant broke the law . That precedent , Wilbert said , required him to rule that the necessity defense is not a viable defense in Kansas or in the Roeder case . Defense attorney Mark Rudy pointed out to Wilbert that the defense team has not yet acknowledged what their tactic might be . Roeder , however , filed a 100-page motion on his own behalf , Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said Tuesday , on the necessity defense , acknowledging it previously has been unsuccessful . Prosecutors
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- An anti-abortion activist charged with gunning down a Wichita , Kansas , doctor can not use the '' necessity defense '' at trial , a judge ruled Tuesday . Scott Roeder , 51 , is set to stand trial January 11 on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Dr. George Tiller , who was shot to death at his church May 31 . Tiller ran a women 's clinic in which he performed abortions . Tiller , 67 , was one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions . He had already survived one attempt on his life before he was slain . Under a necessity defense , a defendant argues an action was justified because breaking the law was more advantageous to society than following it . Several anti-abortion activists facing criminal charges have attempted to use the defense but none has been successful . In an Associated Press interview last month , Roeder admitted killing Tiller and said he plans to argue at this trial that the shooting was justified . `` Because of the fact preborn children 's lives were in imminent danger , this was the action