BUFFALO, N.Y., June 20 (UPI) -- An anti-abortion rights activist who killed a doctor who performed the procedures near Buffalo, N.Y., in 1998 was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years.
Lawyers for James Kopp, 52, had sought a sentence of 25 years to life for the shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian in his home but U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara went further, the Buffalo News reported Wednesday.
Arcara said he didn't believe Kopp's claim in a 61-minute statement that his only intent was to injure the doctor and said "it is the court's intent that you never will be free again," the report said.
The doctor's wife, Lynne Slepian also appealed for a harsh sentence.
"Please put Mr. Kopp in jail for life so that my children never have to worry about attending a parole hearing," she told Arcara.
Kopp is suspected of shooting and injuring three other doctors in Canada and another in Perinton, N.Y.
He was serving time on the state murder charge and was sentenced Tuesday for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act and for using a firearm to commit a violent act.
