Abortion Doc Murder Suspect Extradited

A fugitive anti-abortionist suspected of murdering a U.S. doctor has left France for the United States to try to clear his name in court, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

James Kopp, wanted by U.S. prosecutors for allegedly killing an abortion doctor in a 1998 sniper-style shooting, flew out of Paris on Wednesday heading for New York, his lawyer Herve Rouzaud-Le Boeuf told Reuters.

Kopp's attorney in Buffalo, N.Y., Paul Cambria, said Tuesday he had been told Kopp could be in federal court, presumably in Buffalo, as early as Wednesday morning. His French attorney, Herve Rouzaud-LeBoeuf, also said he expected his client to immediately appear in a U.S. court.

Tuesday was the first day U.S. authorities were able to take custody of Kopp after the anti-abortion activist dropped his fight against extradition from France, where he was captured in March 2001 following a 2 1/2-year international manhunt. He has been in prison in Rennes, in northern France.

Last June, a French court recommended that Kopp be extradited after receiving assurances that the U.S. government would not seek the death penalty.

In a statement last week, Kopp, 47, said he was eager to prove his innocence.

The Vermont native, known among anti-abortion activists as “Atomic Dog,” faces a state murder charge along with federal charges in the sniper slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian.

Investigators allege Kopp hid in a wooded area behind the doctor's suburban home on Oct. 23, 1998, and fired a single rifle shot inside, striking Slepian, a father of four who had just returned from a prayer service for his deceased father.

Kopp disappeared 11 days after Slepian's murder. Investigators believe he fled first to New York City, then New Jersey, Ireland and France. He became a suspect after several witnesses placed him in Slepian's wealthy neighborhood.

The federal charges allege Kopp violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by using deadly force to prevent Slepian from providing reproductive health services and using a firearm to commit a crime of violence.

The state charges include second-degree murder, first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.