Drew Seeley is a former priest of the Roman Catholic Church, who was defrocked for his extremist views on killing abortion doctors.
Background[]
Seeley was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, but he only signed up as a noncombatant conscientious objector so he wouldn't kill anyone. After returning, he became a priest living in Manhattan.
In the 1970s, Seeley protested against capital punishment under the belief that the law was a legal form of revenge, not justice. He later protested against abortion, believing that a fetus is a living person and the doctors performing them were mass murderers. His demonstrations were peaceful at first, but eventually, his views became so radical that he was defrocked and stripped of his priesthood. However, before that happened, he had taken 27 other anti-abortion protesters under his wing, and he formed his own unofficial congregation that advocated a strong anti-abortion ideology. In July 1995, Seeley led a sit-in at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Schenectady, where he and his followers were arrested for trespassing.
As a result of the arrest, a restraining order was issued against Seeley from the Diocese of Schenectady, and Seeley was barred from getting within a hundred yards of one of their churches. Over the next few months, his views started becoming even more radical, and he started inciting his followers to kill abortion doctors to save the lives of fetuses, which resulted in some of his followers leaving.
In September, one of Seeley's followers living in Buffalo, New York, Harold Malcolm, took his advice and shot and killed an abortion doctor with a shotgun. Malcolm was picked up at the scene by the police while handing out leaflets. In November, Seeley instructed another one of his followers who was arrested, Nancy Gunther, to get the name and address of another abortion doctor in Manhattan, Eileen Reed, by pretending to want an abortion. After she gave him the information, he passed her name to his entire congregation and sent the Eileen a wanted poster with her name and picture on it, stating she was a mass murderer. Seeley also called her, telling her that he wanted to torture her like she tortured the babies she killed. (L&O: "Progeny")
Progeny[]
Seeley attended a conference of the Council of Choice, where he threw fake blood at the group's spokespeople while another of his followers, Randall Jenkins, shot and killed Reed in her car. In November, after Gunther is connected to Reed's murder, Detectives Briscoe and Logan arrive at Seeley's office to question him. Seeley then openly tells the detectives that he thinks the killings committed by his followers and the ones committed by Paul Jennings Hill and Michael Frederick Griffin were fantastic and invites them inside. Seeley argues to the detectives that babies can't fight for their right to live against their enemies, so he and his followers will do it for them. He also claims that his followers don't get the idea to shoot abortion doctors from him and that he doesn't know who shot Reed. After he gives them his alibi for Reed's murder, they leave.
Jenkins later comes to Seeley and confesses to killing Reed. Deciding to use this as an opportunity to preach his anti-abortion message, he promises Jenkins that he will be acquitted. Seeley calls the press and tells them about Jenkins' confession, then calls the precinct asking to speak to the detectives again. Next, he holds a press conference, claiming that he is praying for Reed and the babies she killed. When the police arrive, Seeley declares Jenkins a righteous man and Jenkins then openly confesses to killing Reed, which is followed by Briscoe and Logan arresting Jenkins for murder. Seeley attends Jenkins' arraignment and later a conference between Jenkins, his attorney, EADA McCoy, and ADA Kincaid, acting as Jenkins' spiritual adviser. At the meeting, he has Jenkins go with a justification defense to preach how abortion is murder, much to the disbelief of McCoy and Kincaid.
Seeley attended Jenkins' trial and listened to the M.E., Dr. Rodgers, and Gunther testify; he is particularly pleased with Gunther's testimony. During another meeting between the five of them, Seeley's plan starts to unravel after he learns that Jenkins' motive was revenge for the abortion of his own unborn son, not to stop future abortions. Seeley asks to speak with Jenkins and his lawyer in private, so McCoy and Kincaid leave. To ensure he is still able to spread his message, Seeley convinces Jenkins to lie, saying that Seeley gave him the gun, drove him there, pointed out Reed, and drove him away from the scene after he killed her. This was meant to negotiate a plea deal for manslaughter. While initially shocked, McCoy accepts the deal when the Council of Choice conference organizer falsely claims that she can't recall when Seeley left, to make sure he ends up in prison. After he is arrested, Seeley decides to represent himself at trial.
Seeley opens by exclaiming that abortion today is similar to slavery over a century ago, where slaves were not considered people and that the owners were allowed to kill their "property". Seeley then compares himself favorably to a man named John Brown (who led a group of anti-slave abolitionist settlers into murdering several pro-slavery settlers, and was either regarded as a folk hero or terrorist) and says that abortion is wrong and should be outlawed like slavery was. Seeley cross-examines Reed's husband Simon, gets him to say that he wanted her to stop performing abortions, and portrays her death as her own fault for continuing her practice, enraging Simon in the process. Seeley later see one of his followers, Dr. Rachel Moran, try to testify in Seeley's defense by saying she herself deserved to die for carrying out abortions, having been an abortion doctor prior to joining Seeley's group. However, McCoy gets the judge to discredit the notion that she committed murder by attempting to have her arrested for murder.
Seeley takes the stand, justifying his actions as the only option he had after every other legal avenue failed. On cross-examination, McCoy continuously asks why Seeley never pulled the trigger himself. Seeley claims God has given him a higher purpose: to lead and guide others and not be arrested. McCoy sees through this with Seeley's own confession and realizes that while he may preach and incite the murders of abortion doctors, he can't do it himself because he knows it is wrong to kill another human being, regardless of their sins.
Seeley attempts to avoid answering the next question directly, but the judge orders him to answer anyway. When Seeley refuses, the judge calls a recess to see counsel. Both McCoy and the judge conclude that if Seeley doesn't believe the justification defense he is attempting to spread, then the judge has no choice but to instruct the jury to no longer consider it. Seeley protests this, but the judge threatens to order the jury not to consider it anymore if he continues to refuse to answer McCoy's question. Seeley, seeing he is beaten, agrees to take a plea of murder in the second degree and is sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment. (L&O: "Progeny")