Appeals
Kopp filed an appeal with Federal court. Judge Richard Joseph Arcara was selected to preside. Arcara limited what Kopp could say on the stand and prohibited the defense from showing pictures of aborted fetuses. There are also limitations to witness' accounts. If found guilty in Federal court, Kopp faces a mandatory life sentence. Kopp was charged with violating the Clinic Entrances Act and using a weapon in the murder of Slepian. Kopp chose to act as his own attorney. On the second day of the federal trial, and during cross examination, Kopp moved to have the court reporter from his previous state trial read back statements pertaining to abortion. Judge Arcara precluded this, holding that under the Federal Rules of Evidence, Kopp was barred from stating anti-abortion, religious or moral reasoning for his actions, which ultimately precluded Kopp from revealing any rationale for his actions.
Kopp was also charged in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York on a count of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Kopp dismissed his court-assigned attorney, an assistant federal public defender, and chose to represent himself. On June 20, 2007, he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 10 years for illegal use of a firearm. Additionally, the court ordered his belongings auctioned off in order to pay $2.6 million to Slepian's family. Arcara told Kopp at the end of the trial:
| “ | You served as prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. You decided that you know better than any law. | ” |
In his opening statement to the jury, Kopp said that although Slepian's death was "a full-bore, 100 percent tragedy" it wasn't murder because it was not malicious or premeditated. He did acknowledge that he had planned the shooting for a year, and that he fired a high-powered rifle with telescopic sights, but that he had only meant to wound the doctor (to keep him from performing abortions). Kopp claimed that pre-meditation means "Shoot them in the head, blow up a car, riddle their body with bullets like they do in the movies. That's how you kill someone."
On April 6, 2009, The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the life sentence holding that all issues raised were without merit.
Read more about this topic: James Charles Kopp
Famous quotes containing the word appeals:
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