Posted on 03/02/2003 4:13:03 PM PST by Marianne
Erie County Judge Michael L. D'Amico has cleared the start of jury selection for James C. Kopp's murder trial on Monday by rejecting defense motions to throw out search warrants in the case and to dismiss the murder indictment for a variety of causes.
D'Amico ruled Friday there was sufficient evidence presented to an Erie County grand jury to indict Kopp on a new charge of murder through a depraved indifference to life in the fatal Oct. 28, 1998, shooting of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian.
The judge also said there was no evidence that Kopp's second indictment violated the extradition agreement that brought Kopp back from France last year. Prosecutors obtained the new indictment after Kopp told The Buffalo News last November that he shot Slepian to stop him from performing abortions, but did not mean to kill him.
Kopp had no legal standing to bring the motion, the judge ruled, saying it was up to France to object if there were problems with the new indictment. Kopp's attorney, Bruce A. Barket, never showed that France had any objection to the new indictment, which carries the same range of penalties.
The judge also said there were no grounds to dismiss the indictment based on dual prosecutions in both state and federal courts, which Barket claimed deprived Kopp of his constitutional rights. The charges in the two courts are different, the judge ruled, and Kopp has separate counsel in both cases.
D'Amico also agreed with the state prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Joseph J. Marusak, that searches conducted by the FBI in the case were proper and that Kopp had no expectation of privacy.
Barket had objected to law enforcement searches of two houses where Kopp had briefly stayed and also a search of his car. Kopp abandoned it at the Newark Airport before fleeing to Europe where he spent 21/2 years as a fugitive.
Kopp's car, which had invalid New Jersey license plates and an expired Pennsylvania registration sticker, was found by Newark airport police a month after Slepian's shooting with the doors unlocked, windows down slightly and keys in the ignition.
Jennifer Rock, a friend of Kopp's from Vermont, testified at a Feb. 7 hearing that she drove him to Mexico after Slepian's shooting. Kopp flew to Europe from the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo.
Prospective jurors will be called into D'Amico's courtroom on Monday and given questionnaires asking their opinions on abortion and other issues in the case. Attorneys will review the answers and then begin questioning jurors on March 12. D'Amico said testimony will begin March 17, and is expected to take at least a month.
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