Arraignment in Planned Parenthood Killings

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CN) - At arraignment Wednesday, Robert Dear is expected to be charged with three counts of first-degree murder and the attempted murders of nine people inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.

Dear, 57, surrendered after a six-hour standoff with police on Nov. 27. He allegedly uttered "no more baby parts" to an arresting officer, and the killings relit the national debate on Planned Parenthood, abortion and guns.

At his initial appearance in court, via video camera from jail on Nov. 30, El Paso County Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez said Dear could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder. Dear was accompanied in that appearance by public defender Dan King.

Officials have said Dear asked a shopper in a complex near the Planned Parenthood office for directions to the clinic before the shooting, to which he brought multiple rifles and handguns.

In the 12 days since the shootings, Dear's ex-wife, Barbara Michaux, has said that Dear vandalized another abortion clinic 20 years ago, in which he "jammed up their locks with glue so they couldn't get in."

Dear was expected to face first-degree murder charges for the deaths of University of Colorado police Officer Garrett Swasey, 44, a father of two; Ke'Arre Marcell Stewart, a 29-year-old Iraq war veteran and father of two; and Jennifer Markovsky, a 35-year-old mother of two who was at the clinic to support a friend; and nine counts of attempted murder.

The arraignment was set for 1:30 p.m. at El Paso County Judicial Building.

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