Update (1/22/10 @5:26 eastern):

Court is in recess until Monday morning.

Update (1/22/10 @4:37 pm eastern):

Judge just called for afternoon recess. Compelling exchange between defense attorney Mark Rudy and one of the witnesses on the stand.  Dr Paul Ryding is a veterinarian who attends the same church as the Tiller family.  He performed CPR on Dr Tiller shortly after he was shot just above the right temple.  During cross examination Rudy asked Dr Ryding, who has been a member of the church since the 60’s, multiple times about people who come to Reformation Lutheran to disrupt the services.  Ryding was evasive and said that there were people who came to the church to do things other than worship, but would not directly tell the jury why.  Judge Wilbert has said that abortion may not be brought up by the attorneys, but if a witness opens the door, then it can be explored.  At one point when Ryding did not directly answer his question as to why people don’t like some of the members of his church, Rudy said to the witness, “sir you are under oath,” to which Dr Ryding stated firmly, “I don’t know what you’re wanting me to say.”  Rudy followed up telling Dr Ryding, “I just want the truth sir.”  The prosecution objected multiple times during Rudy’s cross-examination of Dr Ryding, saying the attorney was out of bounds.  During the time that  Dr George Tiller was a member of Reformation Lutheran, the church experienced multiple protests and disruptions from anti-abortion activists.  Had Dr Ryding expressed as much during his time on the stand, this would have give the defense an opening to show the controversy surrounding Dr Tiller and his clinic.

Update (1/22/10 @ 12:13 eastern):

Kathy Wegner , the youth director for the Reformation Lutheran Church is on the stand right now.  In opening statements, DA Nola Foulston told the jury that Wegner was the first person to see Scott Roeder walk in to the church just prior to shooting Dr George Tiller.

Wegner followed Diane Gage, the Director of Emergency Communications for Sedgwick County.  Gage, called by the prosecution, played the 9-1-1 call made from the church on Sunday, May 31, 2009 moments after Dr Tiller was shot.  On the call you hear a frantic woman screaming, “somebody just shot Dr George Tiller in our church!”

Dr. Tiller’s wife Jeanne is sitting in the courtroom and wiped tears from her eyes as the call was played.

The public defender’s office told Judge Warren Wilbert that it will hold it’s opening statements until after the prosecution has presented it’s case.

Opening statements in the Dr George Tiller Murder trial are underway. 51 year-old Scott Roeder has admitted to shooting and killing Dr Tiller in the foyer of the doctor’s church on May 31, 2009. Dr Tiller ran the Women’s Health Services clinic in Wichita until the day he was killed. His clinic was one of the only in the country to perform abortions in the third trimester.
“Dr Tiller died of a single contact gunshot wound to the head,” Nola Foulston, the Sedgwick County District Attorney said in her opening statement. Prior to the jury being sworn in, prosecutors tried once again to convince Judge Warren Wilbert to disallow the defense from arguing or presenting evidence that this was a case of voluntary manslaughter. Judge Warren, for the second time in two weeks, denied the request, telling attorneys that because he does not know yet what evidence will be presented it would be premature to make such a ruling. Scott Roeder has said in court documents that he killed Dr Tiller to protect the lives of the unborn. Opening statements expected to continue throughout the morning.