James Kopp, 48, was found guilty on 18 March of second degree murder in the shooting of Dr Barnett Slepian, a New York state obstetrician. Dr Slepian, 52, was the last of seven people killed in attacks on abortion clinics and their staff from 1993 to 1998 (BMJ 1998;317:1174) .
Mr Kopp admitted shooting Dr Slepian in his suburban home near Buffalo, New York, on 23 October 1998. Mr Kopp waived his right to a trial by jury and was convicted by Erie county judge Michael D'Amico in an unusual one day bench trial. His defence was that he only meant to wound the doctor to prevent him from carrying out abortions, but the prosecutor, assistant district attorney Joseph Marusak, said that shooting Dr Slepian was “an act of religious terrorism.”
Mr Kopp, nicknamed Atomic Dog in anti-abortion circles for his persistent belief in violence to prevent abortions, still faces federal charges for violating the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
He is also a suspect in the non-fatal shootings of four other abortion providers in Canada and Rochester, New York, between 1994 and 1997.