Replies

JURY INDICTS 2 ON CHARGE OF HAVING AIDED KOPP
The Buffalo News LINK
Dan Herbeck, News Staff Reporter
December 11, 2002
     A federal grand jury in New York City has indicted Loretta C. Marra and Dennis Malvasi for allegedly helping James C. Kopp avoid capture after the 1998 slaying of an Amherst abortion provider.
     A Buffalo attorney for Malvasi said Tuesday that he still hopes that a "fair and reasonable" plea deal can be worked out with federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York.
     "This case has taken so many twists and turns that I wouldn't hazard a guess on what will happen in the future," said Malvasi's lawyer, Thomas J. Eoannou. "I still hope we can work out something that is fair to these two people."
     The new indictment announced in New York by U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf adds little new information to the charges that were initially filed against Marra and Malvasi after Kopp's arrest in Dinan, France, in late March 2001.
     Kopp, a 48-year-old pro-life activist, is accused of the October 1998 sniper murder of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian at Slepian's Amherst home. In an interview with The Buffalo News last month, Kopp admitted to the shooting, but claimed he was only trying to injure Slepian.
     Marra, 39, and Malvasi, 52, abortion protesters from Brooklyn, are accused of sending money and information to Kopp while he was on the run from charges filed against him by the FBI and the Erie County district attorney's office.
     The two suspects are now accused of felony counts of conspiracy, harboring a known fugitive and conspiracy to possess false identification documents.
     "Between Nov. 4, 1998, and March 29, 2001, Marra and Malvasi provided Kopp with money, advice and support while Kopp was a fugitive from justice, living in Ireland, France and elsewhere," Mauskopf said.
     "Marra and Malvasi communicated with Kopp by telephone, letter and electronic mail under assumed names; held in safekeeping various papers belonging to Kopp, including identification documents; and aided Kopp for his planned covert return to the United States. In addition, Marra and Malvasi contacted third parties to determine whether they would be willing to provide assistance to Kopp."
     The case has taken a highly unusual path through the federal courts.
     The Brooklyn suspects were prepared to take a guilty plea in Buffalo before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, but the plea deal fell apart last August, when Arcara complained that federal prosecutors were going too easy on Marra and Malvasi.
     Arcara insisted that the 33-month prison terms sought in the plea deals were not sufficient punishment for helping Kopp. The arrangement would have allowed Marra and Malvasi to plead guilty to one felony conspiracy charge.
     On Sept. 24, prosecutors dropped the Buffalo charges and filed new charges in New York City, which prompted Arcara to accuse them of "judge-shopping."
     Prosecutors and defense lawyers have vehemently denied the judge-shopping allegations.
     Eoannou and Marra's attorney, Bruce A. Barket, feel their clients have already been sufficiently punished. They said their clients had no idea when they were helping Kopp that he was responsible for the shooting of Slepian.
     Eoannou said Tuesday that he hopes New York City prosecutors will honor the plea deal that was offered in August by prosecutors in Buffalo. He noted that the two have been in jail since the day of Kopp's arrest.
     "The U.S. Justice Department should speak with one voice," Eoannou said. "They should not bounce the lives of these two people around like ping-pong balls."
     But there were harsh words directed toward Marra and Malvasi in the press statement issued Tuesday by Mauskopf and Kevin P. Donovan, an assistant director in charge of the FBI.
     "The defendants provided aid and comfort and financial support to a fugitive wanted for a vicious murder," Donovan said, "and there seems little doubt that Kopp would not have eluded capture for as long as he did without the assistance of Marra and Malvasi."
     Mauskopf said the two Brooklyn defendants "went to great lengths" to aid Kopp after he was charged with "murdering Dr. Slepian in cold blood."