Posted on 02/26/2003 12:13:20 PM PST by Marianne
A judge ordered jury selection to begin Monday in the state murder trial of James C. Kopp, as attorneys argued whether France would have extradited Kopp under the new indictment prosecutors obtained after his November confession that he fatally shot Dr. Barnett A. Slepian.
Erie County Judge Michael L. D'Amico heard arguments by Kopp's attorney Monday on why he should dismiss indictments against the abortion foe or, at the least, why he should grant two more months before the trial begins to counter possible new evidence.
"I'll tell you what, I'm through letting you guys pick the dates," D'Amico said after two hours of arguments between prosecution and defense. "We are picking a jury Monday, we'll start proof March 17."
D'Amico said he would begin bringing in groups of 40 potential jurors at a time Monday, give them questionnaires about the case, and then have them return to court for questioning March 12.
In a series of exchanges that marked the continuing bitter relationship between Kopp attorney Bruce A. Barket and Deputy District Attorney Joseph J. Marusak, Barket said state charges against Kopp should be thrown out.
He said having to face state and federal charges at the same time deprived Kopp of his constitutional rights.
Kopp's admission that he shot Slepian so he couldn't perform abortions but didn't mean to kill him, Barket argued, essentially would convict him of the federal charges of obstructing access to abortions.
"They want two bites of Jim Kopp, two bites of the apple," Barket said. "It seems for whatever reason, state prosecutors want their day in the sun at the expense of James Kopp."
Barket argued that D'Amico should dismiss the state charges so Kopp could stand trial in federal court.
That brought an angry response from Marusak, who called Slepian's murder an assassination performed by a coward who shot Slepian in his home, in front of his wife and children, while hiding in the darkened woods behind Slepian's house.
"It's definitely this county's option to prosecute this case as a murder," Marusak said. "If you don't allow this, how do you allow a community to protect itself? We're talking about an assassination, in my opinion."
Marusak also bridled at Barket's contentions that prosecutors have waited more than four years after Slepian's killing on Oct. 23, 1998, to look for new forensic evidence.
In his November confession in The Buffalo News, Kopp said the bullet he fired took a "crazy ricochet" that killed Slepian. After that admission, the district attorney's office asked another forensic pathologist to examine the bullet's path.
D'Amico said he would rule on whether the report is admissible once the pathologist submits it.
He also asked both lawyers for further documentation on their arguments over Kopp's extradition.
Kopp originally was indicted by an Erie County grand jury in June 1999 on a charge of intentional murder. But after Kopp told The News that he shot Slepian but didn't intend to kill him, prosecutors went back to a grand jury in December and added another charge of causing Slepian's death through a depraved indifference to life.
It's Barket's contention, based on speaking with Kopp's attorney in France, that there is no similar charge there to the new depraved-murder count.
France extradited Kopp on June 5, 2002, following his arrest there the year before, after he spent 21/2 years as a fugitive in the Slepian murder.
But Steven Meyer, an assistant district attorney, argued that France does have a similar charge to the new count and said the facts in the two indictments are no different.
D'Amico said, "I'm looking forward to starting on the 17th. I've been waiting to try this case since October. No more delays, we're getting going."
Barket said outside the courtroom that potential jurors' positions on abortion would be the most important factor in the trial.
He said those who feel abortion is a right could vote to convict Kopp, but those who feel that abortion is the taking of another life would have a difficult time convicting Kopp.
D'Amico also instructed attorneys for The News and television stations WIVB, WGRZ and WKBW to work out a pooling arrangement for still photographs during the trial.
He earlier had ruled The News could shoot still photography during the trial but held that the state's ban on courtroom cameras applied to video recordings. The television stations then applied for the same right to shoot still photos.
Not that I have any sympathy for Kopp.
In other words, he doesn't trust ANY jurors to make a decision based on the facts.
I'm against abortion but wouldn't have the slightest problem convicting this guy.
Only the brain-dead ones.
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