Posted on 11/04/2002 3:37:36 PM PST by Marianne
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 wife and four sons in October 1998.
Some in the pro-choice community fear that Barket's recent entry into the case could move the focus away from a horrific murder and turn Kopp's trial into a public debate over abortion.
"I think it's going to be a mess," said Helen Dalley, president of the Pro Choice Network of Western New York. "Is James Kopp going to get up on the witness stand and say, "God told me to do this'?"
In fact, some legal sources close to the case think that Barket may now be preparing a defense that admits that Kopp pulled the trigger but that tries to convince jurors that Kopp acted out of moral outrage and a sense of duty to protect the unborn.
"I hope the judges don't allow Mr. Barket to turn this case into a debate over abortion," Dalley said. "There are other places for that debate. This is a murder case. We don't need more unrest in this community about abortion."
If his words upset some people, Barket said, he can live with that. The attorney from Long Island is no stranger to controversy, and he said he intends to pull no punches in his defense of Kopp when the murder case goes to trial next year in Erie County Court.
Tuesday, Judge Michael L. D'Amico approved Kopp's request to replace Buffalo defense lawyer Paul J. Cambria Jr. with Barket. A similar request is pending in federal court, where Kopp faces related charges.
Sources in the legal community said Kopp wants Barket to represent him because Barket shares his anti-abortion views and because Barket wants to build Kopp's defense around the moral debate over abortion.
In Barket's view, it is impossible to fairly evaluate Kopp's guilt or innocence without also looking at the issue of abortion.
"Whether people want to hear it or not, this case is all about abortion," Barket said. "It's a sign of a twisted society that our government wants to put a man like Jim in prison . . . while allowing more than a million babies each year to be killed in abortions."
When asked whether Kopp is planning to take the witness stand and admit to firing the shot that killed Slepian, Barket declined to answer.
"Come to the trial and find out," he said. "The case will unfold as it unfolds. This the wrong time for me to unveil our trial strategy."
In the courts of Long Island and New York City, Barket is known as a formidable trial attorney with a willingness to take on controversial cases. In the last decade, his clients have included Amy Fisher, the "Long Island Lolita"; Salvatore "Fat Sally" Scala, an accused enforcer for the late Mafia don John Gotti; and Antowine Butts, a New York City rap singer whom Barket helped to win acquittals on two murder charges.
Many of Barket's clients are poor people. He has defended so many clients for free that the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers will give him its Gideon Award next year for representing people who cannot afford to pay.
Barket's combative courtroom style has raised some eyebrows in Buffalo, especially those of U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, who has exchanged some angry words with the lawyer.
Colleagues describe Barket as an outspoken crusader who fights hard for all his clients.
"Bruce is no shrinking violet," said his friend Richard J. Barbuto, president-elect of the statewide lawyers group. "I may not agree with his politics, but I admire the way he does things when he feels strongly about a case. He represents his clients with no holds barred, often receiving little or no money."
"He is a very skilled trial attorney," Kathleen Cruise, a law clerk and former Nassau County prosecutor, said of Barket. "After seeing him in action, one of our local judges once told me, "If I ever was charged with murder, I would hire that guy.' "
While Barket is proud of his opposition to abortion, he becomes upset when reports in the Buffalo news media refer to him as a "pro-life attorney" or "anti-abortion attorney."
"I'm absolutely opposed to abortion, but I'm a defense lawyer who handles all kinds of cases," Barket said. "It marginalizes the work I do to call me a "pro-life lawyer.' The cases I've had involving pro-life issues make up a minuscule part of my practice."
Barket, a devout Catholic of Lebanese and Italian heritage, worked from 1986 to 1991 as a prosecutor for the Nassau County district attorney's office. Then he quit the legal profession to study for the priesthood. He said he returned to legal work less than a year later, after realizing he could best help others as a defense lawyer.
"As a Jesuit seminarian, I was doing some volunteer work in the jails, and a middle-aged black guy in work clothes came to me and said, "My son is in trouble. He's charged in a drug case. Can you help me?' " recalled Barket, 43. "I started looking into the case, and I found that this kid was being mistreated. I found myself working as a lawyer again."
Barket said he is somewhat embarrassed that he ever worked as a prosecutor, putting people in jail. Since becoming a defense lawyer, he said, he has handled many cases where he has caught police officers or government lawyers lying in efforts to put innocent people in jail.
"If Jesus Christ ever came back to life on earth, I don't think he would be a prosecutor. He'd be more likely to be a defense lawyer, helping people who are begging for forgiveness," Barket said.
"Bruce has a real sensitivity to any kind of social injustice," said Nassau County District Attorney Denis E. Dillon, who is also known for his strong opposition to abortion. "He feels that every defendant is entitled to the best possible representation. Out of hundreds of lawyers in this community, he's among the five or six best."
When Cambria took the Kopp case in June 2001, he made one thing clear: He would attack the prosecution team's evidence and would not - under any circumstances - allow Kopp's trial to become a battle over abortion.
"This is a murder case," Cambria told The Buffalo News last summer. "I'm not about to turn this thing into a debate over abortion . . . I don't work that way."
Barket sees it much differently.
"The issue that is going to be squarely presented in this case is the impropriety and the immorality of abortion," he said. "Our government is brutal in its protection of abortionists."
Those words put him on a collision course with Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark, whose office is prosecuting the murder case.
"Whatever Mr. Kopp and Mr. Barket think about abortion is immaterial. The issue of this trial is going to be whether Kopp killed Dr. Slepian," Clark said. "It will be up to Judge D'Amico to decide how much latitude to give the defense, but if they try to turn this into a political debate, we will object to every question."
When asked about the possibility he may try to convince jurors that Kopp acted out of moral outrage and wanted to protect the unborn, Barket said: "The only things I would rule out in our defense strategy are lies, deception and trying to ignore the fact that this case is about abortion. Why do you think Dr. Slepian was shot? What was the motivation? Whoever sat there and pulled the trigger, . . . this was not done as a robbery."
Clark was outraged to hear that Barket described Kopp as a heroic figure. "We'll see how the jury looks at it," Clark said. "As far as I'm concerned, this was one of the most heinous, cowardly crimes I've ever seen."
Added Clark: "If he had only courageously and bravely suctioned out an infant's brains in exchange for cash, he wouldn't be in the mess he's in now."
But, it's Jim's call, I guess. I sent some money to the defense fund when Cambria had the case. The article indicates that the new attorney is a heavy hitter, as well.
What do others think?
Kopp is guilty as hell, and the trial is going to be turned into an OJ circus.
Sink, there is a lot of evidence already out there to the contrary. And a lot of evidence of yet another botched investigation by the FBI.
I am wondering if Kopp considers it his "higher calling" to use this highest profile trial ever, as far as pro-life, as a platform for putting the reality of the unborn holocaust squarely in the face of Joe and Josaphine Six-Pack on the Nightly News.
A single headshot by a sniper who then gets away clean - sounds to me like Slepian might well have been taken out by Mr. Muhammid on a "test run" and not by "Atomic Dog".
One thing for sure, the FBI will not investigate that possibility!
Thanks for the original post, Marianne.
But, the "necessity defense" is what is in play here. That means, that it is permissable, or even necessary to violate the law to prevent greater harm. The classic example is ignoring a "No Trespassing" sign on a fence around a swimming pool to save someone who is drowning.
The parallel for Kopp might be ignoring the law against first degree murder, in order to stop however many premediated murders that Slepian could be counted to commit, by his appointment book.
The only evidence I'd need was his fleeing the country.
I am wondering if Kopp considers it his "higher calling" to use this highest profile trial ever, as far as pro-life, as a platform for putting the reality of the unborn holocaust squarely in the face of Joe and Josaphine Six-Pack on the Nightly News.
You and I had better hope not. If Kopp chooses this strategy, he will set the pro-life movement back twenty years.
There was another, in Florida, where the perp is currently on death row.
Although the pro-aborts are of the impression that only a RTL type would want to kill one of their doctors, that's only because they are all dull, bovine types. Slepian could have tangled with these guys, and that would be it. They have been busy over the years in that part of the world. They should not be dismissed as the cause.
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