Robert Dear is a terrorist — and he basically admitted it.
The accused Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter yelled, “I am a warrior for the babies” during an outburst as charges against him were read in court.
Dear, 57, will face 179 charges related to last month’s shooting at the Colorado Springs clinic that left three dead and nine wounded.
Despite a constitutional right to remain silent, the accused mass shooter couldn’t keep his mouth shut during a court appearance — ranting and raving about the “atrocities” of abortion.
“I am guilty,” Dear declared in no uncertain terms. “There will be no trial.”
He was not required to make a plea at the hearing.
Dear then launched into a diatribe, argued with his own attorney and made nearly 20 outbursts during the proceeding.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD GUNMAN ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS TO CLINIC
“Planned Parenthood and my lawyer are in cahoots because they don’t want the truth out,” Dear said.
When lawyers spoke about a listing of those wounded in the incident, Dear blurted out, “Could you add the babies that were to be aborted that day? Can you add that to the list?”
Dear also objected to efforts of public defenders to limit online postings of some court pleadings in the case.
“You’ll never know what I saw in that clinic,” he added. “Atrocities. The babies. That’s what they want to seal.”
“You’ll never know the amount of blood I saw in that place,” he said at one point, KCNC-TV reported.
Cops said Dear left his own trail of blood when he stormed the clinic on Nov. 27.
Dear’s alleged rampage left three dead, including a police officer named Garrett Swasey.
SUSPECTED COLORADO PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHOOTER CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER
Nine others were also wounded in the rampage.
When he was arrested after an hours-long standoff, Dear muttered “no more baby parts,” investigators said.
The cryptic message was likely a reference to Planned Parenthood’s practice of providing aborted fetal tissue for research purposes.
Authorities said Dear had also asked a bystander for directions to the clinic immediately before he allegedly opened fire.
Dear is charged with first-degree murder, which could lead to life in prison or the death penalty, authorities said.
He is represented by a court-appointed lawyer Daniel King, a public defender, who was also one of the lawyers for James Holmes, the mass shooter who killed 12 people at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater in 2012.
“Do you know who this lawyer is?” Dear yelled in court about King. “He’s the lawyer for the Batman shooter. Who drugged him all up. And he wants to do that to me.”
King said he has “serious concerns” about Dear’s competency. At the end of Wednesday’s hearing, the judge took a good look at Dear and said, “Are you finished?”
A hearing to discuss Dear’s mental state has been scheduled for Dec. 23.
The gunman’s attack had been motivated by anti-abortion views, said Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
And one of Dear’s three ex-wives, Barbara Mescher Micheau of Moncks Corner, S.C., claimed that the madman once vandalized a Planned Parenthood clinic in South Carolina some two decades ago.
After the court appearance, Cowart released another statement, saying, “Our focus now is … making sure this never happens again.”
“We continue to provide high-quality, compassionate health care in a safe, supportive environment,” she wrote. “Every day since this terrible tragedy, Planned Parenthood’s doors have been open across Colorado, across our Rocky Mountain region, and across this country. Our doors — and our hearts — stay open.”
With News Wire Services
