Pro-Life News

Kopp Asks Judge To Ignore His Lawyer, Lawyer's Advice At Issue In Trial of Abortionist Killer

The Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Anti-abortion activist James Kopp's attorney has been fighting for months to have Kopp's published admission that he fatally shot an abortion provider kept out of his federal trial. On Friday, Kopp effectively asked a judge to ignore his lawyer. "I cannot denounce the contents of the article which contains truths of my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," Kopp wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, which was read in court. Kopp raised the possibility of withdrawing the motion to suppress his statements in The Buffalo News and elsewhere. Defense attorney John Humann said Kopp's former attorney, Bruce Barket, convinced Kopp to make the statements as part of a deal with prosecutors to win leniency for another of Barket's clients _ a woman who was charged with helping Kopp evade capture after the shooting. "You cannot represent one client at the expense of another," Humann said. Arcara set a May 9 hearing to explore the claims. Several of Kopp's previous attorneys and prosecutors are expected to testify. Full story...

Related:
Admissibility of Kopp's confession debated
The Buffalo News
A federal judge wants to hear from James C. Kopp's former attorneys to determine if Kopp's confession that he killed Dr. Barnett A. Slepian can be used against him in his upcoming U.S. District Court trial. Judge Richard J. Arcara on Friday set a May 9 hearing to learn the circumstances leading to Kopp's unusual confession in The Buffalo News in November 2002. That confession, which helped convict Kopp of murder charges in his subsequent Erie County Court trial, should be suppressed as well as the comments Kopp made when he was sentenced, said Kopp's new attorney, John Humann.

Posted by Editor at February 6, 2006 11:14 AM