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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PROLIFE who wrote (20188)	6/10/2007 10:03:55 AM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 71588

heres some good law and order news "Woman gets $25,000 for killer's capture By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press WriterSat Jun 9, 1:51 PM ET Joan Dorn's entry in her running diary on Oct. 14, 1998, was brief — "Wacky car" — but that and the license plate number she jotted down became vital clues for police investigating the sniper slaying of a neighbor. On Friday, the FBI awarded Dorn $25,000 for her role in the capture and conviction of anti-abortion extremist James Kopp for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, a physician who provided abortions. "Don't be afraid if you think what you wrote down was something ridiculous," said Dorn, an epidemiologist whose profession has taught her that every observation may be valuable. "You just really never know what it might lead to." Kopp drew Dorn's suspicion the moment she saw him drive his 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier into her upscale Amherst neighborhood while she was out for her 5:30 a.m. run. She watched as the stranger got out, "way overdressed for the weather," did an awkward stretch routine and then plodded along with an apparent limp. When Dorn returned nearly an hour later, the black car was still there. "It just seemed to me that no one who ran like that would run that long," Dorn said. The car was still parked outside after Dorn showered, and the oddness of the whole situation led her to write "Wacky car" on a piece of paper with the license plate number: BPE 216, Vermont. "If I don't come home tomorrow from my run, check out this car," she told her husband. Nine days later, Slepian was heating soup in his kitchen, joined by his wife, Lynne, and two of their four sons, when he was fatally wounded by a rifle bullet fired through a window. Soon after hearing of the shooting, Dorn called Amherst police and told them about her "wacky car" observation. "It really did allow the case to progress," said Laurie Bennett, special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Buffalo office. The license plate was registered to Kopp, who authorities learned had been arrested dozens of times protesting abortion and was known as "Atomic Dog" in extremist circles. "It brought the name immediately to the forefront and allowed us to begin investigating him," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Mehltretter said of Dorn's call. Investigators suspected Kopp had been scouting Slepian's home the day Dorn saw him. After 2 1/2 years on the run, earning him a place on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, Kopp was captured at a post office in Dinan, France in March 2001. Lynne Slepian was at Friday's reward ceremony but declined to speak publicly. She and Dorn met privately afterward. "I hope my small part brings some closure to Lynne and her family, although it cannot bring back her husband," Dorn said. "I'm so sorry for that." Kopp, who is now also suspected in the nonfatal shootings of three Canadian abortion providers and one in Rochester from 1994 to 1997, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He was convicted this past February of related federal charges — including violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — and faces a maximum prison term of life without parole when he is sentenced June 19.