Anti-abortion activist Jennifer Rock told the Erie County Court on Friday that she helped James Kopp while he was on the run from authorities seeking to question him in the 1998 murder of Dr Barnett Slepian. Kopp, who confessed to the shooting of the obstetrician/gynecologist and abortion provider, maintains that he only intended to wound the doctor, not kill him.
Rock told the court that for three days in November, 1998, she helped Kopp elude capture, including dying his brown hair red, giving him a fake driver’s license and $7,000 in cash, and driving him to Mexico, according to the Associated Press. Rock was promised immunity from prosecution in return for her testimony, AP reports.
In related news, journalists will be allowed to photograph but not televise the trial, a decision that disappoints Kopp, according to his lawyer. Kopp plans to take the stand during his trial and wanted his testimony televised, according to AP. The trial date is set for March 17.
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
