Replies

I do believe that the evidence in this case has been "cooked" by Janet Waco's Injustice Department.
Agreed
Kopp's worst hurdle is why he left for Europe at about the time of the killing and why he lived underground over there.
With the hysteria in this area after the killing, law enforcement was eager for a quick trial and conviction. I honestly believe that if James Kopp hadn't fled to Europe he would not have received a fair trial.
It was very encouraging when Paul Cambria agreed to take the case. It is a complete mystery why Kopp decided to dismiss Cambria for a "pro-life" attorney. Unfortunately, I don't have any information about Bruce A. Barket.
The following "Letter to the Editor" appears in today's paper
ABORTION IS RELEVANT TO KOPP MURDER TRIAL
Everybody's Column
The Buffalo News
11/2/2002
     The Oct. 29 News editorial, "James C. Kopp - A trial about murder," goes a long way in showing the bias The News has against the pro-life community. Calling the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian a "plain vanilla murder case" convicts Kopp in the press. Calling the case "plain vanilla" says the evidence clearly points to the alleged sniper as the guilty party.
     In reporting the Slepian murder case, The News has never questioned the evidence or police procedures. It has never questioned U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara's decision to deny bail to Loretta Marra and Dennis Malvasi, forcing them to sit in jail for two years away from their two young children. This, despite the fact that they agreed to post a million-dollar bail bond and consent to 24-hour electronic surveillance.
     Using The News' logic of keeping defense issues relevant to the trial issues would have convicted abolitionists in the 1800s and draft dodgers in the 1960s. Those defense attorneys brought the issue of slavery and the war in Vietnam to the minds of the jurors.
     The News might also recall the case of John Peter Zenger, printer of the New York Weekly, who was accused in 1735 of violating the seditious libel act, which prohibited criticism of the king or his officers. Zenger had attacked Gov. William Cosby in his newspaper. Another "plain vanilla case."
     Fortunately for Zenger, and The Buffalo News, his lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, argued for the jury to acquit. The News keeps silent when the issues of freedom and justice are applied unequally to the pro-life community, but speaks out and editorializes when they fit with its own liberal pro-abortion agenda.
HEZEKIAH WEBSTER
Batavia
(The comparison of abolitionists, draft dodgers, and Peter Zenger to the Kopp murder case doesn't make sense to me. In the Peter Zenger case his lawyer argued that the law was wrong and telling the truth should not be a seditious libel act. The jury agreed.
The State trial is now scheduled to begin in February 2003.)

See Reply #9 "letter to the editor".
The following letters were printed in today's (11/07/02) Buffalo News, "letters to the editor" in response to the letter posted in #9.

SLEPIAN'S ASSASSIN WAS KILLER, NOT MARTYR
I am sick of the self-serving name calling! Who is really "pro-life"? Who is really "pro-abortion"? Those people who want to make all abortions illegal claim the name pro-life. But whose life? Certainly not the lives of women that were lost to back-alley butchers or self-induced illegal abortions prior to Roe vs. Wade.
And who is pro-abortion? No one I know. But I do believe in my right and my daughter's right to decide whether and when to have a child. This is because I so cherish the right of each child to be wanted and loved.
Barnett Slepian was a doctor and a man who helped women control their bodies and their lives. He provided women with safe health care. He was not an "abortion doctor."
His assassin was a murderer, plain and simple. If James Kopp is guilty, he is a "plain vanilla" murderer. If anyone wishes to invoke martyrdom and causes, the only cause Slepian died for was safe health care choices for women.
MARILYN CANTOR FEUERSTEIN
East Amherst

MURDER IS NOT A MEANS TO EXPRESS FREE SPEECH
The author of the letter, "Abortion is relevant to Kopp murder trial," seems to view the assassination of Dr. Barnett Slepian as on a par with newspaper editors (John Peter Zenger) criticizing government policies, and citizens demonstrating against laws (abolitionists and draft protesters) they don't like.
He ignores a very salient fact: Assassination is not an expression of free speech. The murderer of Slepian is no better than the men charged with the recent sniper killings.
LINDA DIDOMIZIO
Jamestown