He has been referred to as a terrorist by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism,[1] and was "well-known in militant anti-abortion circles, where he was nicknamed Atomic Dog".

[2] James Charles Kopp was born in Pasadena, California and raised Lutheran, but later converted to Roman Catholicism.

Kopp fired a single shot from an SKS semi-automatic rifle from a nearby wooded area, which entered the Slepian home through a rear window.

Within hours of the murder, anti-abortion militants posted Slepian's name crossed out on their internet website, which also served as "a virtual hit list of doctors who carry out abortions".

He then fled Ireland one step ahead of police on a ferry to Brittany, France on March 12, 2001, with two Irish passports besides his original U.S.

[2] On March 29, 2001, Kopp was arrested without incident[5] by French law enforcement in the town of Dinan, Brittany, just after picking up a package containing $300[2] outside of a post office.

Attorney General John Ashcroft promised that the death penalty would not be sought, handed down or applied, a prerequisite according to the extradition treaty between France and the United States.

Kopp and his attorney, Herve Rouzaud-Le Bouef, appealed this ruling, stating that the "unsigned embassy letter was 'insufficient' as a guarantee, prompting Ashcroft's unusual direct intervention.

Based upon an agreement between the defense and prosecution — Erie County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Maruszak and defense attorney Bruce Barkett — Erie County Judge Michael D'Amico would be required to find Kopp guilty or not guilty based on a single document of facts.

[14]In his opening statement to the jury, Kopp said that although Slepian's death was "a full-bore, 100 percent tragedy" it wasn't murder because it was not malicious or premeditated.

He did acknowledge that he had planned the shooting for a year, and that he fired a high-powered rifle with telescopic sights, but that he had only meant to wound the doctor (to keep him from performing abortions).

Kopp claimed that murder means "Shoot them in the head, blow up a car, riddle their body with bullets like they do in the movies.

The two fugitive assisters later relocated to Newark, New Jersey and briefly changed their names to Joyce Maier and Ted Barnes.

[citation needed] Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco wrote and performed the song, "Hello, Birmingham" about Kopp's shooting of Dr. Slepian.