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James Kopp: wanted in US
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A U.S. prosecutor says she would consider not seeking the death penalty against Mr James Kopp, wanted in connection with the killing of a New York doctor who performed abortions, to spur extradition procedures in France where he was arrested.
A French public prosecutor said on Friday that Mr Kopp would not be extradited if U.S. courts sought the death penalty against him.
Mr Kopp, a long-time anti-abortion activist, was arrested in Dinan in northwest France on 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.
Yesterday, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York Ms Denise O'Donnell, 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 [Mr John Ashcroft] is going to have to speak about with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of State," she said.
Mr Kopp, who has been on the FBI's 10-most-wanted list, has been charged in the October 23rd, 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.
Mr Ashcroft said on Thursday Mr 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 Mr 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.