Accused family planning shooter shouts out guilt in court

The man accused of shooting dead three people at a family planning clinic in Colorado last month shouted in court that he was guilty, as he was formally charged, reports said.

"I am guilty, there is no trial, I am a warrior for the babies," Robert Lewis Dear yelled, according to a reporter present at the hearing for the local Channel 9 television station.

The station said Dear, 57, repeatedly shouted "protect the babies" during the hearing and denounced his attorney Dan King, assigned to him by the court.

Dear was charged with 179 counts -- including eight for first-degree murder and 131 for attempted murder -- for the rampage that also left nine people wounded at a Planned Parenthood clinic on November 27 in Colorado Springs.

King previously represented James Holmes, who killed 12 people inside a movie theater in Colorado in 2012 during a showing of the movie "Batman." Holmes this year was given multiple life sentences.

"Do you know who this lawyer is?" Dear asked the court before the hearing was adjourned.

"He's the lawyer for the 'Batman' shooter, who drugged him all up. That's what they want to do to me."

Dear also told the judge that there was no need for a trial as "I'm guilty."

He said he did not wish to meet his attorney again and did not want to undergo a mental health evaluation.

"It's my life," he said, dressed in blue prison garb.

"I'm not gonna agree to their mental health evaluations, when they want to take me and put me under psychotropic drugs so I can't talk like the Batman guy."

Dear faces a maximum life in prison for his rampage, which, officials have said, was motivated by his opposition to abortion.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty.
Source: AFP