Planned Parenthood shooting suspect makes his first court appearance via video
The man accused in the mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was informed that he will be charged with first-degree murder when he made his first court appearance Monday afternoon via video link from jail, Reuters and the Associated Press report.
Robert Lewis Dear, 57, spoke just two words, saying “yes” when Judge Gilbert Martinez, chief judge for Colorado’s 4th Judicial District, asked him at different times if he could hear what the judge was saying as Martinez explained the defendant’s rights and the court procedures. Dear, wearing a protective vest even on the jail facility video, will face formal charges at a hearing scheduled on Dec. 9 for allegedly killing three people and wounding nine others on Friday.
The dead included 44-year-old Officer Garrett Swasey of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs police and two civilians. Ke’Arre Stewart, 29, was an Iraq War veteran and Jennifer Markovsky, 35, was a mother of two, the Washington Post reports. Both Stewart and Markovsky were accompanying friends visiting the clinic.
Dear stood beside his lawyer, Daniel King of the Colorado public defender’s office. King also represented James Holmes, who was convicted in the killings of 12 people and injuries to 70 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012.
Judge Stephen J. Sletta of the El Paso County Court has agreed to seal the search warrant, arrest warrant and related applications in the case at the request of 4th Judicial District prosecutors, according to the Post.
“We’ve seen an alarming increase in hateful rhetoric and smear campaigns against abortion providers and patients over the last few months,” Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains told the Associated Press. “That environment breeds acts of violence.”
Dear was reportedly heard to say “no more baby parts” to authorities after his arrest.
