Kopp Confesses

Buffalo News Online ^ | 11/20/2002 | Lou Michel

[KeyBored]

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.

[KeyBored]

Sounds very trite, but it's true: Two wrongs don't make a right.

I wonder if Kopp realizes how much damage he's done to the pro-life cause. All he did was galvanize the opposition, shift the focus off the main issue, and make a martyr out of Slepian.

I hope Kopp is ready to meet his maker.

[general_re]

I wonder if Kopp realizes how much damage he's done to the pro-life cause. All he did was galvanize the opposition, shift the focus off the main issue, and make a martyr out of Slepian.

Exactly so. And, the article makes it clear that the admission of the act is part of the new strategy of putting the law on trial - such a strategy is unlikely to be successful, to put it mildly.

[KeyBored]

There was a part of me that wanted the abortion doctor's murderer to turn out to be a pro-abortion activist. After all, it's certainly done more to advance their cause than the pro-life view. Oh well . . .

The ONLY positive thing (so far, it's early) I see coming out of the developments this morning is the fact that Kopp's confession saves the need for a lengthy and expensive trial. What a media circus that would have been.

Would've given the OJ trial a run for its money.

[yianni]

It also resulted in the election of Schumer.

[general_re]

After all, it's certainly done more to advance their cause than the pro-life view.

Indeed. The James Kopps and the John Salvis and the Paul Hills of this world do more damage to their cause than they are apparently capable of imagining.

The ONLY positive thing (so far, it's early) I see coming out of the developments this morning is the fact that Kopp's confession saves the need for a lengthy and expensive trial. What a media circus that would have been.

Well, they'll still have a trial, albeit a shorter and cheaper one. The defense has just shifted from I-didn't-do-it to I-was-justified-in-doing-it. It's the "Inherit the Wind" defense - when your client is dead-bang guilty under the law, you can try to put the law itself on trial. The trouble is, that defense almost never works, and it won't work in this case either.

The other side-effect of this that I see is that his confession makes that "Life Dynamics" outfit (the one that produced mountains of "data" showing that Kopp couldn't possibly have been the shooter) look very, very silly - their credibility is likely going to be heavily damaged in the future.

[KeyBored]

"It also resulted in the election of Schumer."

An example of galvanizing the opposition

[Fury]

Well, they'll still have a trial, albeit a shorter and cheaper one. The defense has just shifted from I-didn't-do-it to I-was-justified-in-doing-it. It's the "Inherit the Wind" defense - when your client is dead-bang guilty under the law, you can try to put the law itself on trial. The trouble is, that defense almost never works, and it won't work in this case either.

I wonder of this is what caused attorney Paul Cambria to bid farewell to the defense team in October? Kopp may have been planning to go public with this for some time.

[KeyBored]

"The other side-effect of this that I see is that his confession makes that "Life Dynamics" outfit (the one that produced mountains of "data" showing that Kopp couldn't possibly have been the shooter) look very, very silly - their credibility is likely going to be heavily damaged in the future."

"Come clean" time. I kinda thought he was innocent of this shooting, too. :-(

[general_re]

I think you're probably on to something there. Either Kopp really thinks he can win with this strategy, or he's decided that he can't win no matter what, and is just planning on using a trial as a platform to try and shoot the moon before his bid for full-blown martyrdom. Either way, it's probably a good bet that Cambria saw no particular reason to be a part of what is almost surely a losing case.

[general_re]

No need to beat yourself up - you're not on the jury, so there's nothing wrong with forming a preliminary opinion. In any case, we still haven't seen everything that the prosecution had up its sleeve to tie him to the shooting, so in the absence of all the evidence, you can hardly be blamed for reaching what we now know was the wrong conclusion - you can only work with the information that's available to you at the time you try to make a judgement. None of us are mind-readers, after all ;)

[L.N. Smithee]

I wonder if Kopp realizes how much damage he's done to the pro-life cause. All he did was galvanize the opposition, shift the focus off the main issue, and make a martyr out of Slepian.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people honestly think that shooting an abortionist or bombing a clinic or beating and/or killing homosexuals will do anything but rouse fence-sitters into action against the perpetrators of such vile crimes.

Here in the S.F. Bay Area, those of us who oppose the gay agenda in schools have had to endure the aftermath of the murder of cross-dressing teen Eddie "Gwen" Araujo by male guests at a weekend party (his body was found many miles away in a wooded area). Coincidentally, the high school that Araujo had recently left was rehearsing the play "The Laramie Project", which is about the self-reflection of the residents of the Wyoming city after the beating death of Matthew Shepard. Now, if you were a parent who thought that the play was inappropriate for high school kids, how much would you want to stand up against it after the community was brutally provided with its own "Shepard?"

Exacerbating the tragedy was that hateful pseudo-Christian snake Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps, whose wacko congregation had already planned a trip from Topeka, KS to protest the play before the murder of Araujo. Outnumbered by counter-protestors many times over, Phelps and his looney crew held up their famous day-glo signs proclaiming the Almighty hates the sinner and not just the sin, and celebrating the fifth year that Shepard was burning in hell. New signs included one with Araujo's picture saying he was being perpetually roasted, "GOD HATES THE USA", and some sort of pro-sniper sign. I have no idea what's up with that, but Phelps is a lunatic, and I have no desire to delve into his darkness.

[L.N. Smithee]

The ONLY positive thing (so far, it's early) I see coming out of the developments this morning is the fact that Kopp's confession saves the need for a lengthy and expensive trial. What a media circus that would have been.

Ditto. Now, where's Eric Rudolph? One down, one to go.

[toenail]

It's not that he could have killed Slepian; it's that the media consistently acted as though he couldn't have not killed him. One thing's for certain: Kopp gets more airplay than Bruce Steir. Or Alicia Ruiz Hanna. Or John Hamilton. Or David Benjamin. Or John Biskind. Or Abu Hayat.

[general_re]

It's not that he could have killed Slepian; it's that the media consistently acted as though he couldn't have not killed him.

It is certainly so - there's plenty of bias to go around. The media will certainly (and wrongly) take this as a vindication of their prejudgement of Kopp. More's the pity.

One thing's for certain: Kopp gets more airplay than Bruce Steir. Or Alicia Ruiz Hanna. Or John Hamilton. Or David Benjamin. Or John Biskind. Or Abu Hayat.

Hopefully the next potential Kopp will see that and be inspired to rethink their actions beforehand. Kopp gets lots of airplay because he's everything the left could possibly hope for in a bogeyman - he is nothing more than a useful idiot to them, and he plays the role to perfection. I think that we all know that Kopp is hardly representative of the pro-life movement, but by the end of the week, he'll be the liberal poster-boy for the movement. And that's a shame.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

.... that "Life Dynamics" outfit (the one that produced mountains of "data" showing that Kopp couldn't possibly have been the shooter) look very, very silly - their credibility is likely going to be heavily damaged in the future.

It never seems to hurt the liberals.

[general_re]

Doesn't hurt to own the mainstream media ;)

[Cicero]

Well, this business certainly fooled me.

More grist for the pro-abort mills, regretably. This may make it harder to put a partial-birth abortion bill through congress in January, although there is no evident connection and I hope they will not hesitate. The longer they wait, the harder it will be.

And this confession will do wonders for the fundraisers at NARAL, NOW, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, and the rest. Kopp will be their advertising posterboy for the next 50 years. Liberal parents will use him insteady of the boogyman to frighten their kids. He may be the very first instance of a pro-lifer who has shot an abortionist and is not certifiably insane.

[poopoobutter]

I wonder if Kopp realizes how much damage he's done to the pro-life cause.

Kopp is serving as another example of why rightwing antiabortionists are not good people. Those who are truly ptolife on the abortion issue will work to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies through educating people about sex and making sure contraceptives are freely available. People like Kopp would love to see abortion outlawed, sex education banned and the the possession and use of contraceptives a crime.

[general_re]

Kopp is serving as another example of why rightwing antiabortionists are not good people.

Fallacy of composition.

Those who are truly ptolife on the abortion issue will work to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies through educating people about sex and making sure contraceptives are freely available.

The classic "one true Scotsman" argument.

People like Kopp would love to see abortion outlawed, sex education banned and the the possession and use of contraceptives a crime.

Strawman argument. Why don't you go and lie down for a bit, dear? This who "rational discussion" thing seems to be a bit beyond you at the moment.

[Campion]

reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies through educating people about sex and making sure contraceptives are freely available

That will reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies the way "educating" people about the many different alcoholic beverages available and providing free coasters and peanuts ("just in case you find yourself with a beer in front of you") will reduce drunkeness.

Those who are truly ptolife on the abortion issue

Those of us who really are "ptolife" on the abortion issue don't really need any advice from you on what to do.