Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview With James Kopp's Attorney

Aired May 09, 2003 - 14:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anti-abortion activist and convicted murderer James Kopp was sentenced today for the sniper-style killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian in 1998.
CNN's Jamie Colby has been following the case. She joins us live now from Buffalo, New York -- Jamie, what's the sentence?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, good afternoon. The Erie County judge, Michael D'Amico gave James Kopp, the anti- abortion activist, the maximum sentence, a minimum of 25 years -- a sentence, though, that could extend to life. And I'm here now with his attorney, Bruce Barket, and you were making an impassioned plea to the court, perhaps, to give a minimum sentence, something less than that. What do you feel now that your client got the maximum?

BRUCE BARKET, ATTORNEY: Well, we knew that the maximum was going to be imposed. I wanted to put Jim's perspective before the court, and it's up to the court to decide what to do. But there was not any doubt that Jim was going to receive the 25 to life that he got.

COLBY: And in an impassioned plea, as well, James Kopp was allowed to address this court, Miles. He talked a lot about how that he is about (ph) saving children, that he's devoted his life to that cause, and that this event that he did not expect for Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician who also performed abortions, to die.

Yet, he did, Bruce, talk about how he detailed the night that he was in front of Dr. Slepian's house. He buried a weapon there for days. He waited for the perfect shot. He said he thought that shot wouldn't kill the doctor, it would only harm him. But the doctor was in his kitchen making soup with his wife and two of his four children.

What do you make of that statement by him?

BARKET: Well, I have always believed that -- what Jim says, that he did not intend to kill the doctor. The interesting thing about this entire case and other cases like it is the law enforcement community believes that Jim is responsible for five -- four other shootings, five total. In every shooting, a doctor was shot in a limb, only one died.

Jim's aim was to prevent the doctor from doing abortions, not to kill him, and when Jim says he did not intend to kill him, I believe him. There's frankly no reason to disbelieve him. He's got nothing to gain or lose by lying or by saying anything other than what he absolutely believes. And so when he says I meant to shoot him but didn't mean to kill him, there's really no reason to doubt that. COLBY: And this is the statement, Miles, that the judge talked about in the actual sentencing, that he found it unlikely, based on photographs and testimony that was actually a written, stipulated testimony. This was a non-jury trial, something that James Kopp waived the right to have a jury, that he found it unlikely that James Kopp would believe that Dr. Slepian would not have died in that murder -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie Colby in Buffalo, New York. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 9, 2003 - 14:25   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anti-abortion activist and convicted murderer James Kopp was sentenced today for the sniper-style killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian in 1998.
CNN's Jamie Colby has been following the case. She joins us live now from Buffalo, New York -- Jamie, what's the sentence?

JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, good afternoon. The Erie County judge, Michael D'Amico gave James Kopp, the anti- abortion activist, the maximum sentence, a minimum of 25 years -- a sentence, though, that could extend to life. And I'm here now with his attorney, Bruce Barket, and you were making an impassioned plea to the court, perhaps, to give a minimum sentence, something less than that. What do you feel now that your client got the maximum?

BRUCE BARKET, ATTORNEY: Well, we knew that the maximum was going to be imposed. I wanted to put Jim's perspective before the court, and it's up to the court to decide what to do. But there was not any doubt that Jim was going to receive the 25 to life that he got.

COLBY: And in an impassioned plea, as well, James Kopp was allowed to address this court, Miles. He talked a lot about how that he is about (ph) saving children, that he's devoted his life to that cause, and that this event that he did not expect for Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician who also performed abortions, to die.

Yet, he did, Bruce, talk about how he detailed the night that he was in front of Dr. Slepian's house. He buried a weapon there for days. He waited for the perfect shot. He said he thought that shot wouldn't kill the doctor, it would only harm him. But the doctor was in his kitchen making soup with his wife and two of his four children.

What do you make of that statement by him?

BARKET: Well, I have always believed that -- what Jim says, that he did not intend to kill the doctor. The interesting thing about this entire case and other cases like it is the law enforcement community believes that Jim is responsible for five -- four other shootings, five total. In every shooting, a doctor was shot in a limb, only one died.

Jim's aim was to prevent the doctor from doing abortions, not to kill him, and when Jim says he did not intend to kill him, I believe him. There's frankly no reason to disbelieve him. He's got nothing to gain or lose by lying or by saying anything other than what he absolutely believes. And so when he says I meant to shoot him but didn't mean to kill him, there's really no reason to doubt that. COLBY: And this is the statement, Miles, that the judge talked about in the actual sentencing, that he found it unlikely, based on photographs and testimony that was actually a written, stipulated testimony. This was a non-jury trial, something that James Kopp waived the right to have a jury, that he found it unlikely that James Kopp would believe that Dr. Slepian would not have died in that murder -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie Colby in Buffalo, New York. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com