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.
