But, I do think he's nuts, so he might just try this and go to jail anyway.
All that having been said, this article attributes the claim that there is a dispute with Attorney Cambria because friends of the defendant want a forum for witnessing to pro-life views only to an unnamed "source." Given our shield laws, the press may use its imagination as an unnamed source. It is not irrational that someone or several people around Jim Kopp want to turn the case to a public witness but I am very skeptical at this point.
Let me say to you that you are absolutely right to suggest that this case not be confused by being turned into a pro-life witness. There is a time and a place for that and, when a man is facing life imprisonment, that is not the time and the place. Jim Kopp should have the very best available representation by the most competent of counsel. If that is Paul Cambria, fine. It appears that a man who has obtained acquittals such as those listed in the article knows his way around the courthouse. I also remember that O. J.'s DNA lawyer, Barry Schacht, the very best in the country on DNA was volunteering to do this case's DNA work at no cost because he was convinced that the government's case was quite compromised as to the, umm, discovery of the DNA evidence months and months after the fact and after the government had the opportunity to obtain it elsewhere for planting. Let's not forget that we are talking about the Justice Department of Janet Reno, Slick Willie and their tapestry of agendas having nothing to do with justice.
This is not the time for a "movement" lawyer, distracted by every Tom, Dick and Harriet who thinks the case an opportunity to appeal to the jury on this or that or with unrealistic hopes that this is finally the case in which the courts might overturn Roe vs. Wade. This is a cse of second degree homicide under federal law and there is a very dead victoim of such a crime and if Jim Kopp did it and the government proves that, Jim Kopp will be convicted and punished. If he is not guilty or the government fails to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, he must go free. A solid, experienced, capable, professional lawyer skilled in criminal defense or a team of them is what is needed. The lawyer needs to understand that these people are very fine people who will not transgress certain principles which they will be happy to share with counsel, that he will never be asked to do anything illegal, immoral or unethical by them because that is not who they are and that, if there is an acquittal, it will be the single sweetest victory he will ever enjoy or achieve even if he thinks that abortion is a secular sacrament because the case is about second degree homicide not abortion.
I do not know Jim Kopp personally but I had on several occasions represented the young lady, now deceased, whom he had hoped to marry, Amy Boissonneault. That hope was a very level-headed one. I don't know Loretta Marra but I didknow her father, the late professor William Marra, professor emeritus of Philosophy at Fordham, and I do not believe I know Malavasi. I do know a great many of the friends of each. There has never been the slightest indication that Jim Kopp is at all capable of the murder of Dr. Slepian. Rescue people, which includes all three defendants, despise the abomination of abortion. They are the least likely people I know to hate any person personally for abortion or anything else. For the most part, they are spiritually broken over the abortion holocaust and would want nothing more than the conversion of abortionists and their salvation.
Trustworthy news accounts and personal discussions with his acquaintances, indicate that Jim Kopp, not particularly religious in his affluent Lutheran youth (his fault not theirs) was horrified when a paramour aborted their child and so horrified that he vowed celibacy thereafter rather than be party to another pregnancy ending in abortion. He could trust Amy on that score or there is nothing left in this world to trust. She died young of cancer in her thirties and the world is a lot poorer place for the loss.
I wish that Amy were alive to talk to Attorney Cambria. She had friends who are still alive, just as principled and nearly as capable persuaders. They also probably read these threads and know who I am. Please accept what I am writing and communicate through Amy's very close friends to Jim's attorney after consultation with Jim. Trust an attorney like Schacht as well if he is available. Even a heathen like Ayn Rand has noted that your choice in marriage is a reflection of your inner reality. If so, the inner reality of Jim Kopp must be splendid indeed. From second hand sources who I would trust without question, that has always been the uniform reputation of Jim Kopp.
Any damned fool can burn an abortion mill or blow it up or kill an abortionist. It really isn't very difficult and it really isn't very difficult to get away with. However, it isn't morally justified or justifiable either. In the former cases, the actor does not really KNOW that there is no one who will be injured or killed (including police and firemen but also abortion mill personnel). The death of others in such a fashion is not a justice which we are allowed to dispense, most certainly not as private individuals. That our government has totally failed to prevent abortion and even promoted and paid for it with our tax money does not justify the anarchy represented by taking execution or such destruction into our own hands. These matters were intensely discussed in the circles in which Kopp, Marra and Malavasi travelled and absolutely NO ONE justified such behavior even privately.
Someone certainly killed Dr. Slepian and that someone deserves punishment under our laws. And that someone deserves punishment on another level because, in killing Dr. Slepian, who ordinarily may have had many more years to live and to repent and to amend his life (or not as he might see fit) was deprived of those years as his family was deprived of him. This is not just. This is not reasonable. This is not justifiable.
It is the responsibility of the government to bring the utmost diligence, skill and integrity to such an investigation. The government has a higher obligation than the defense. If the government should ever have serious doubt, it is obligated not to go forward with the prosecution. The prosecutors are not allowed ethically to roll the dice to find out whether someone, anyone, can be convicted. They must virtually know that they are right. Prosecutor Clark's remarks towards the end of the article leave us in considerable doubt as to those his bona fides and as to his ability to meet the noble requirements of prosecutorial professionalism.
All the bravado about no plea bargains is politicization for public consumption. He will not accept a plea bargain and I would bet good money that none will be offered whether Jim Kopp were guilty or not. And I repeat that I find it very hard to believe that Kopp is guilty. He is certainly not nuts. He might be foolish if he chooses the wrong strategy.
I meant all of this for you, sinkspur, but also to a number of those who were my clients before I escaped to America.
If it gets to federal court before Judge Arcara, that is why God (or whoever) invented the jury system, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (which is mindful of Arcara's track record of being overturned) and the SCOTUS as necessary.