Comparing herself to Jesus and insisting she hadn't done anything wrong, a woman who admitted shooting an abortion doctor outside his clinic was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 11 years in prison.
Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon was convicted March 25 of attempted first-degree murder in the attack on Dr. George Tiller, whose Women's Health Care Services clinic has long been a target of anti-abortion activities.Tiller was shot in both arms as he left his clinic Aug. 19. The wounds were minor and he returned to work the next day.
Shannon, 38, of Grants Pass, Ore., told Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller at her sentencing hearing that attacking Tiller wasn't wrong.
"You didn't do wrong? You did wrong," Waller said.
"They said that about Jesus," Shannon replied.
Shannon also was convicted of aggravated assault for pointing a gun at a clinic employee and was found in contempt for refusing to say where she got the gun.
State and federal authorities in several jurisdictions are investigating Shannon's possible links to violence against abortion clinics.
Waller sentenced Shannon to nine years and eight months in prison on the attempted murder and aggravated assault charges, the maximum time recommended under state sentencing guidelines. He sentenced her to one year in the county jail, to be served after the prison sentence, on the contempt charge.
The prison sentence could be reduced to seven years and nine months for good behavior. There is no automatic reduction of the county jail sentence.
Shannon has been in custody since the shooting in lieu of $1 million bail. She will get credit for jail time she already has served.