NEW YORK — A U.S. prosecutor said Friday she would consider not seeking the death penalty against James Kopp, wanted in the murder of a New York doctor who performed abortions, to spur extradition procedures in France where he was arrested.
A French public prosecutor said Friday that Kopp would not be extradited if U.S. courts sought the death penalty against him.
Kopp, a long-time anti-abortion activist, was arrested in Dinan in northwest France Thursday after leaving a post office where he picked up a package with about $300 in cash. He had been on the run for more than two years.
Earlier Friday Denise O'Donnell, U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, who is preparing an extradition request, said she expected the death penalty would come up during extradition discussions.
"That is something that the attorney general of the United States (John Ashcroft) is going to have to speak about with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of State," she said.
Kopp, who has been on the FBI's 10-most-wanted list, has been charged in the Oct. 23, 1998, murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian. The 52-year-old obstetrician-gynecologist was killed by a sniper as he stood in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, New York, talking with his wife and one of his four sons.
Ashcroft said Thursday that Kopp faces state charges of second-degree murder and federal charges of using a firearm in a crime of violence and of using deadly force to prevent Slepian from providing abortions. U.S. officials said the federal firearms charge carried a possible death sentence.
There are precedents for the United States waiving the death penalty in order to obtain extradition, and O'Donnell said the same tactic might be used on this occasion.
"I can't say for sure that this will be done in this case, but it is something that will be considered," O'Donnell told Reuters, adding that her office would almost certainly inform the attorney general of its wishes.
"I think the most important thing is to get (Kopp) extradited and brought back to this country," she said.
U.S. prosecutors have 60 days to file the extradition request, O'Donnell said.
"There is quite a bit of paperwork involved, there is also a certification process and a translation process so I'm sure it will take a couple of weeks before it is finished," she said, making it uncertain when Kopp might return.
The United States has for years been pursuing the extradition from France of ex-hippie guru Ira Einhorn to face trial in the 1977 murder in Philadelphia of his girlfriend Helen "Holly" Maddux.
Last July after years of legal wrangling French authorities signed the extradition papers. But Einhorn has appealed to France's Council of State arguing he faces execution if he is returned to the United States. It could be months before a ruling is issued in that case.
"Our experience with extradition in general is that it is a very cumbersome process which takes time," O'Donnell said. "We hope it will proceed as expeditiously as possible, but we are not fixing any dates."