Shelley Shannon
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Rachelle Ranae "Shelley" Shannon (born 1956) is an anti-abortion activist, rhetorician, and terrorist from Grants Pass, Oregon, who shot Dr. George Tiller in both arms outside his abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas on August 19, 1993.[1][2][3] She is serving time in FCI Dublin.[4] Her projected release date is November 7, 2018.
Shannon had been an anti-abortion activist for five years and had written letters of support to Michael Griffin, who murdered Dr. David Gunn. She called Griffin "the awesomest, greatest hero of our time." She traveled to the Wichita clinic, a site of frequent demonstrations by abortion-rights and antiabortion activists, and shot Tiller with a semiautomatic pistol.[5] Antiabortion activists at the Wichita clinic immediately condemned her use of violence.[1]
At her trial in state court, she testified that there was nothing immoral about trying to kill Tiller. She also admitted that she had attempted to make bail in order to carry out arson attacks at abortion clinics. The jury deliberated for only an hour before convicting Shannon of attempted murder; she was sentenced to 11 years.[5][6]
Shannon signed the Army of God's statement in support of the actions of Paul Jennings Hill while incarcerated in Lansing, Kansas. [7]
On June 4, 1995, she pled guilty to setting fires at several abortion clinics in Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada. She had been indicted by federal grand juries of 30 charges in connection with fires at nine clinics. Charges included arson, interference with commerce by force and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.[8][9] On September 9, 1995, Shannon was sentenced to 20 years by a federal judge who called her a "terrorist." The sentence was to begin when her ten-year sentence for shooting Tiller expired.[10]
Her daughter, Angela Shannon (born ca. 1974),[11] was prosecuted for sending a death threat in 1993 to Dr. 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, her mother's known track record for trying to take the fall for others' violent actions, and other evidence, 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 U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil in Kansas City, Kan. The dismissal was upheld by a 2-1 vote of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Phillips, Don. (August 22, 1993). "Violence Hardly Ruffled Protest Ritual." The Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
- ^ NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. (2006). Clinic violence and intimidation. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
- ^ Crow, Karen. (August 19, 2005). A Violent Week in August. Choice! Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
- ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Locator. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
- ^ a b Harriet Ryan, Court TV, Kopp fifth clinic shooter to face trial, March 11, 2003. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ Time Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980456-2,00.html The Week March 20-26], Apr. 04, 1994. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ THE SECOND DEFENSIVE ACTION STATEMENT
- ^ The Washington Post, Antiabortion Extremist Indicted in Attacks on Clinics in West , October 25, 1994. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ New York Times, Guilty Plea Expected In Fires at Clinics, June 4, 1995. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ New York Times, Woman Gets 20-Year Sentence In Attacks on Abortion Clinics, September 9, 1995. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ Denny Walsh, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, '93 LETTER, Jun 6, 1996. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ FindLaw.com, USA v SHANNON 97-10057. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
- ^ Robert Boczkiewicz, The Topeka Capital-Journal, Sewage lawsuit dismissal upheld, Jul 11, 2001. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2007.
