BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to take up a petition from anti-abortion extremist James Charles Kopp, who is serving a life sentence for the 1998 sniper-style slaying of an abortion doctor in upstate New York.
The justices Monday denied Kopp's petition to review the lower court records. The Supreme Court gets about 8,000 such requests every year and accepts less than 150.
Kopp was convicted in state and federal courts for the fatal shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian. Slepian was in the kitchen of his suburban Buffalo home when he was shot.
In his petition, Kopp argued his constitutional rights were denied because he was represented by a lawyer who also represented a couple who had helped him avoid arrest.
