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Abortion Foe Admits to Killing Doctor Wed Nov 20, 9:02 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Anti-abortion activist James Kopp admitted in a jailhouse interview that he killed a doctor who provided abortions, but said he only intended to wound the man, the Buffalo News reported. "The truth is not that I regret shooting Dr. (Barnett) Slepian. I regret that he died," Kopp told the newspaper in an interview published Wednesday. "I aimed at his shoulder. The bullet took a crazy ricochet, and that's what killed him. One of my goals was...

KOPP CONFESSES Tells News in jail interview that outrage about abortion prompted shooting of doctor By LOU MICHEL and DAN HERBECK- Copyright 2002, The Buffalo News James C. Kopp has admitted he shot and killed Dr. Barnett A. Slepian. Kopp confessed to The Buffalo News that he planned the sniper shooting for a year, hid in the woods behind Slepian's Amherst home and fired the shot that killed the abortion provider. In a jailhouse interview, Kopp said he scouted Slepian's neighborhood several times and also considered shooting other local doctors who provided abortions before he killed Slepian on Oct.

James C. Kopp said Tuesday that he may represent himself in federal court if a judge does not approve his request to have his case handled by a Long Island attorney with strong anti-abortion opinions. After a 45-minute hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott reserved decision on Kopp's request to replace Paul J. Cambria Jr. with Long Island attorney Bruce A. Barket. Kopp said he feels so strongly about the matter that, if Barket is not approved to represent him, he may ask to represent himself when his federal case goes to trial. "There are philosophical sympathies between me...

Defense lawyer Bruce A. Barket makes no secret of his admiration for his new client, James C. Kopp. "People like Jim should be exalted in this country," Barket said of Kopp, the accused sniper killer of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian. "Jim is a devout Christian, a kind, gentle man who only acts after thinking and praying on things. He backs up his beliefs by putting his own life on the line." Kopp's murder trial is months away, but such comments are already igniting anger among family members and friends of Slepian, who was fatally shot while at home with his...

The accused killer of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian could wind up with two separate attorneys defending him in his upcoming trials in state and federal courts. A federal judge Thursday refused - for now, at least - to allow James C. Kopp to sever his relationship with defense lawyer Paul J. Cambria Jr. and replace him with a new attorney, Bruce A. Barket. U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott said he will not decide until at least Nov. 12 whether Kopp and his friend, anti-abortion activist Loretta C. Marra, can be represented on federal charges by the same attorney. That...

James C. Kopp's new attorney has not ruled out the possibility of the accused killer of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian taking the witness stand when he goes to trial next year. "I can't rule that out," said Bruce A. Barket, a Long Island attorney and abortion opponent who was approved Tuesday to head Kopp's defense team at Erie County Court. "That hasn't been decided yet." If he does testify in his own defense, would Kopp reveal what he was doing - and what his motivations were - on the night Slepian was killed? Barket declined to speculate on defense strategy,...

James C. Kopp's new attorney has not ruled out the possibility of the accused killer of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian taking the witness stand when he goes to trial next year. "I can't rule that out," said Bruce A. Barket, a Long Island attorney and abortion opponent who was approved Tuesday to head Kopp's defense team at Erie County Court. "That hasn't been decided yet." If he does testify in his own defense, would Kopp reveal what he was doing - and what his motivations were - on the night Slepian was killed? Barket declined to speculate on defense strategy,...

James C. Kopp will have a new lawyer, long prominent in the pro-life movement, and a new defense strategy when he goes to trial in February in the Dr. Barnett A. Slepian murder case. Does this mean that Kopp's trial will turn into a right-to-life crusade? There were no clear answers Tuesday, but a series of court developments left the strong impression that the high-profile murder case could soon take a sharp turn toward the political. Erie County Judge Michael L. D'Amico set a tentative trial date of Feb. 3. Kopp, 47, told D'Amico and U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B....

Paul J. Cambria Jr, asked a federal judge today for permission to withdraw as James C. Kopp's defense attorney. Without giving a reason, Cambria asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott if he could drop out of the sniper murder case. Kopp then said he wanted Bruce A. Barket, a Long Island pro-life attorney, to represent him. "What is your reason, if you would like to state it?" Scott asked Kopp. "I'd rather not state it, if that's all right," Kopp answered. Scott said he will appoint an independent counsel to explain to Kopp any potential conflicts. Barket represents Loretta...

Buffalo lawyer Paul J. Cambria Jr. is expected to withdraw, possibly within the next few days, as the lead defense attorney in the James C. Kopp murder case. According to sources in the legal community, sharp differences of opinion have developed in recent weeks between Cambria and some of Kopp's close friends and advisers over the approach that should be used to defend the accused killer of Dr. Barnett Slepian. "Paul Cambria wants to defend the case by attacking the evidence, by making the (prosecution) prove its case in court," one source close to the situation told The Buffalo News....

A federal judge in Buffalo reluctantly agreed late Thursday to dismiss felony charges against a man and woman from Brooklyn who admit that they helped James C. Kopp avoid capture after the 1998 murder of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian. The action taken by District Judge Richard J. Arcara clears the way for Kopp supporters Loretta Marra and Dennis Malvasi to go to New York City and take a plea deal comparable to one that Arcara criticized and refused to approve in August. Arcara agreed Thursday to a request from prosecutors to dismiss charges of obstructing justice and aiding a fugitive,...

Government prosecutors took an unusual series of legal actions late Monday, seeking to prevent the case of two pro-life supporters of James C. Kopp from going to trial before a federal judge in Buffalo. In Buffalo, they filed court papers to drop the charges they filed last year against Loretta Marra and Dennis Malvasi of Brooklyn, who are accused of helping Kopp avoid capture by the FBI after the sniper murder of an Amherst physician. In New York City, they filed a new, greatly reduced criminal charge against Marra and Malvasi. Essentially, prosecutors asked to have the case moved from...

After prosecutors disclosed Monday that five people viewed James C. Kopp in a lineup last month, a judge ordered the prosecutors to explain why they refused to give Kopp's defense team the people's names before his trial in the sniper slaying of Amherst physician Barnett A. Slepian. Erie County Judge Michael L. D'Amico, without ruling on defense complaints of violations of Kopp's due process and other constitutional rights, scheduled an Oct. 17 hearing on the eyewitness issue related to the Aug. 29 lineups. In a case involving about 37,000 evidence documents, D'Amico noted that "sooner or later, and probably sooner,...

BUFFALO - Loretta Marra's premonitions that Federal District Court Judge Richard Arcara would reject a plea agreement forged over the summer between federal prosecutors and lawyers representing her and her husband, Dennis Malvasi were realized in a Buffalo courtroom August 21 when Arcara killed the deal. A testy Judge Arcara accused both the government's attorneys and the defendants' attorneys of manipulating the legal system, and accused Marra and Malvasi of being "accessories" to the murder of Buffalo abortionist Barnett Slepian. Marra and Malvasi, who have already served 17 months in jail for helping James Kopp return to the United States...

When James C. Kopp goes to trial sometime next year in the Dr. Barnett A. Slepian murder case, two puzzling questions will present a huge challenge for his defense lawyers. If Kopp really is - as he insists - not guilty, why did he flee to Mexico, Scotland, Ireland and France after the 1998 murder? And why didn't he turn himself in and refute the charges against him? His supporters believe they have a reasonable answer, and Kopp has provided it. In a letter to friends and supporters, the ardent pro-life activist said he did not turn himself in because...

"Any person in Western New York should be able to identify James Kopp. It's like asking me to identify a picture of George Washington." Paul J. Cambria Jr., defendant's lead attorney, on police lineups With the help of a hairstylist and a makeup artist, accused killer James C. Kopp stood Thursday in a series of police lineups in the Dr. Barnett A. Slepian murder case. Several prosecution witnesses - including people who allegedly saw Kopp in Slepian's neighborhood around the time of the murder - viewed the lineups, which were held at Buffalo Police Headquarters. At least one witness was...

James Kopp provided hundreds of handwriting samples to prosecutors on Monday, but a judge's ruling prevented him from having to fill out a blank purchase order for a gun. Prosecutors originally sought to have Kopp - the anti-abortion activist accused of murdering Dr. Barnett Slepian - fill out a gun order form to compare his writing with the form used for the purchase of the murder weapon. But Erie County Court Judge Michael D'Amico ruled Monday that Kopp could only be directed to produce examples of his handwriting on blank sheets of paper. "We sat down to complete it all...

A close friend and former employer of the late Dr. Barnett A. Slepian on Thursday applauded U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara for rejecting a plea deal for two supporters of James C. Kopp. Arcara did "exactly the right thing" in refusing to approve a plea deal for Loretta C. Marra and her husband, Dennis J. Malvasi, according to Marilynn Buckham, executive director of the Buffalo Womenservices clinic. The plea deal would have resulted in prison terms of no more than 33 months for the two pro-life activists, who admitted helping Kopp avoid capture after the 1998 murder of Slepian....

A proposed plea deal for two anti-abortion activists who admit they helped James C. Kopp stay on the run was rejected Wednesday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. Arcara accused federal prosecutors and defense lawyers of trying to "manipulate" the legal system to arrange lenient sentences for Brooklyn abortion protester Loretta C. Marra and her husband, Dennis J. Malvasi. The judge rejected the plea deal after raising numerous questions about how much the two activists really know about Kopp's alleged involvement in the October 1998 sniper murder of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian in Amherst. Arcara said he is...

James C. Kopp on Monday was ordered to provide handwriting samples in "random rectangles" on unlined paper to determine whether he was the person who purchased a rifle in Tennessee that was used 15 months later to kill Dr. Barnett A. Slepian. Erie County Judge Michael L. D'Amico approved that prosecution request during a hearing that showed just how painstaking and highly contested the murder case against Kopp will be. Paul J. Cambria Jr., Kopp's attorney, said the prosecution wants to compare the defendant's handwriting sample to the signature of the person who purchased a Soviet military rifle at the...