We all know that
Law & Order
rips its stories from the headlines, but which headlines? Every week, Brow Beat matches
L&O
‘s plot points to the events that inspired them.
Oct. 23, 2009: “Dignity”
These Are Their Stories:
Dr. Walter Benning is shot and killed in church. As one of the few doctors who performs legal late-term abortions in New York, Benning had been shot before and was wearing a bulletproof vest. The man who shot him is a loner unaffiliated with any pro-life groups.
This Is the Real Story:
On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller,
described by the
Washington Post
as “the nation’s most prominent provider of controversial late-term abortions,” was shot and killed while attending church in Wichita, Kan. He had been shot in both arms in 1993 and sometimes wore a bulletproof vest. Scott Roeder, the man accused of shooting him, is an unaffiliated loner. (Roeder’s trial is
set to begin in January 2010
.)
