The man blamed for killing three people, including an officer, at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood yelled out in court more than a dozen times and admitted guilt.
The outbursts are not only attention getting, but potentially damaging to the defendant.
"It doesn't sound like anybody forced him to speak. There's a big exception when somebody voluntarily blurts out a statement. It's not protected by the fifth amendment. So there's no bar on using those kind of statements against him later in court,” said CU law professor Aya Gruber.
Robert Dear, 57, appeared in front of a judge Wednesday afternoon to formally hear the charges against him. District Attorney Dan May said 179 felony counts have been filed.
El Paso County prosecutors allege Dear fired multiple shots at the clinic on Centennial Boulevard. Nine others were wounded in the attack on Nov. 27.
Denver7 reporter Mark Boyle said he heard Dear yell out at least 16 times.
"I'm a warrior for the babies," he said in one outburst. That quote was not caught on camera, but many others were. He also said he's guilty and there's no need for a trial. Dear also said the prosecutors are in fact trying to get out the truth.
"You'll never know what I saw in that clinic - the atrocities," he shouted.
The judge and all attorneys on both sides ignored Dear's eruptions, which continued as they spoke. At one point, as the judge began reading, Dear yelled, "Could you add babies were supposed to be aborted that day? Could you add that to the list?"
"Judge, our concern is, as I stated with the expanded media coverage… this court has a duty to protect the constitutionality of this proceeding," said defense attorney Daniel King. Dear interrupted, "Protect the babies!”
In the midst of the outbursts, a judge explained the felony crimes Dear is accused of. Among them are eight first-degree murder charges. While three people died, there are six ways a person can commit first-degree murder in Colorado. Other charges include criminal mischief, burglary and crime of violence.
King is also the public defender who represented Aurora theater gunman James Holmes, who will spend his life in prison. The prosecution hasn’t announced if the death penalty will be sought.
Authorities haven’t given the official motive for the crime, but they do say Dear remarked “no more baby parts” after his arrest.
Investigators say Dear started firing once he entered the building, and then refused to surrender for hours.
Officer Garrett Swasey, Iraq war veteran Ke’Arre Stewart and Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two, died in the assault.
Dear has been held in jail without bond. He first appeared in front of a judge via video streaming on Nov. 30.
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