U.S. May Drop Death Penalty in Kopp Case

WASHINGTON —  A federal prosecutor said Friday that the United States will consider waiving the death penalty to speed the return of James Charles Kopp, a Vermont man arrested in France this week on charges that he killed an abortion provider in New York in 1998.

Denise E. O’Donnell, the U.S. attorney in Buffalo, N.Y., said waiving the death penalty may be the only way to extradite Kopp. Yves Boivin, a French public prosecutor, said Friday that it would be “impossible” to send Kopp back to the United States if he risked capital punishment.

“There has been precedent for this in the past, so it’s certainly an option we’ll have to consider,” said O’Donnell, adding that the decision will be up to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.

Kopp was arrested in Dinan, France, on Thursday. He faces federal charges of using a firearm in a crime of violence and using deadly force in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in connection with the slaying of Barnett Slepian, 52. The physician was shot in October 1998 as he stood in his kitchen in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo.

Kopp also faces second-degree murder and other charges in New York state.

The 92-year-old extradition treaty between the United States and France says that no person arrested in France for a crime committed in the United States can face a penalty harsher than he would in France. Capital punishment is outlawed in the European nation.

The United States has frequently clashed with French authorities over extradition cases. In one of the most celebrated examples, fugitive Ira Einhorn has remained in France for years while U.S. officials seek his extradition to face trial in the death of his girlfriend in Philadelphia in 1977.

French authorities signed extradition papers last year, but Einhorn is still in France pending an appeal.