James Kopp has been found guilty of murdering New York state obstetrician Dr. Barnett Slepian, but police are still trying to close other cases involving Canadian physicians who were shot.
Kopp remains a suspect in the nonfatal shootings of physicians who provided abortions in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ancaster, Ont. He has been charged in the last case — Dr. Hugh Short was shot in the right arm as he sat in his home Nov. 10, 1995 (CMAJ 1998;159[9]:1153-5) — but there is insufficient evidence linking him to the Winnipeg or Vancouver cases.
“The important thing for us is to get closure for the victims here,” says Winnipeg police Inspector Keith McCaskill, who serves on a national task force created to solve the crimes. McCaskill, who is working with state and federal prosecutors in the US, says Kopp probably won't be tried for his Canadian crimes because the murder in the US takes precedence.
Kopp, 48, is expected to be sentenced this month to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for 25 years. That could change, because he also faced additional federal charges that may eliminate the possibility of parole.
Kopp admitted shooting Slepian in his suburban home near Buffalo on Oct. 23, 1998. Slepian, 52, was the last of 7 Americans killed in attacks on abortion clinics and abortion providers from 1993 to 1998. — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ