James Kopp has lost what is likely his last legal appeal to have his murder conviction overturned in the shooting death of Amherst physician Dr. Barnett Slepian in October 1998. The U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, refused to hear the appeal, which had been rejected in lower court rulings.
Kopp maintains that the attorney he chose for his 2007 state trial, Bruce Barket, was not allowed to represent him due to a conflict of interest from his representation of two people who had harbored Kopp when he was a fugitive.
Kopp, with a new attorney, later claimed in federal court that he had been denied a fair trial due to the earlier attorney snafu.
Kopp, an anti-abortion activist, claimed in a Buffalo News interview that he had only intended to wound Slepian, who had performed abortions, and not to kill him.
He continues to serve two consecutive life sentences in a Pennsylvania federal prison.