I do not believe for one moment that Kopp is guilty. I do believe that the evidence in this case has been "cooked" by Janet Waco's Injustice Department. However justified Kopp's skepticism as to the capacity of the federal courts to give him a fair trial, the smart move and the best move, regardless of guilt or innocence, is to go with the attornet most professionally qualified rather than the attorney most religiously or politically qualified.
OJ's DNA lawyer, Barry Schacht(?), the best in that area of forensics, was once champing at the bit to handle that aspect of Kopp's case without charge. He should try to resurrect that offer as well since Schacht is apparently convinced that the DNA claims of the government are quite subject to demolition.
Before the law, Kopp is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Based on knowing some of his friends and having heard much about him long before the death of Dr. Slepian, I regard Kopp as objectively innocent in fact as well as not guilty in the contemplation of our law.
BTW, if he is going to testify (and don't be surprised if he does) he is bound to tell the jury his views. This is less dangerous than you may imagine. Jurors who will disagree with him on the abortion issue will admire him as a man. I admired the late Senator Wellstone while I probably disagreed with him 98% of the time. He was not a phony or a faker like Trent Lott or Tom Daschle and so many others. I can admire a principled man with whom I disagree strongly. So can jurors.
That having been said, the killing of Dr. Slepian by whomever and for whatever reason is not justifiable. Hateful though Slepian's abuse of his medical talents may have been, he was also a man, a husband, a father, a friend and a soul who might have been saved if he had lived longer. His judgment was always in God's hands and ought never to have been in the hands his ambusher. If Kopp is guilty of killing Dr. Slepian, he desrves conviction and punishment. If Kopp did not kill Slepian, then the person or persons who did kill him deserve to be convicted and punished. Ambush is no valid method of dispute resolution in our society. Being pro-life, even as admirably as Jim Kopp, is not an adequate excuse for ambush. I believe on the basis of everything I have been told about him that he knows that and would have refrained accordingly.
Kopp's worst hurdle is why he left for Europe at about the time of the killing and why he lived underground over there. We have not heard the entire story and we may not hear it. I dare hope for Kopp's acquittal. If he beats the first prosecution badly enough, the second may well be dropped. Prosecutors do not like to lose.
Cambria should try the case for Kopp who should trust that a lawyer who may disagree with him on abortion is not therefore untrustworthy. Cambria might make special effort under the circumstances. That has often occurred with pro-abortion judges who nonetheless believe in civil liberties and also, grudgingly admire people like Kopp when they get to witness them in court. This is NOT the case with federal judge Arcara in Buffalo but it has been true of many others holding his views.
The conflict of interest in the other lawyer representing both Loretta Marra and Jim Kopp can be real too even if both are utterly innocent. This is not a criminal trespass trial or a criminal mischief trial. Kopp is at jeopardy for very long-term incarceration. It is one thing to be willing to be a prisoner of conscience (not an apt descrition in a homicide) but another to dive into that status head first without forcing the government to jump through every hoop.