Dr. Walter Benning is an assassinated late-term abortion provider, one of very few working in America. His work was controversial, involving pro-life protests outside his clinic regularly and an attempt on his life by a radical anti-abortionist who was later imprisoned upstate. It could also be messy, including when a woman’s baby was to be aborted due to an underdeveloped brain, but a poorly handled procedure provoked an immediate birth, resulting in Dr. Benning killing the baby with a pair of surgical shears stabbing their head.
Dr. Benning actively worshipped in church with his wife Phyllis, but he carried a pistol and walked around with a bulletproof vest whenever out in public. During the sermon, he was shot in the head and executed by extremist Wayne Grogan, in front of his distraught widow Phyllis, which also shook the entire parish and sent them into panic after the gunshot rang out. Once arrested, Grogan argued a defense of justification for a third party, in that Dr. Benning was no longer conducting abortions, but Grogan was convicted of premeditated murder. (L&O: “Dignity”)