e shooting of Dr. Slepian while the 52-year-old obstetrician who performed abortions made soup in the kitchen of his Amherst home.Mr. Kopp awaits extradition in France, a thorny issue because the French have said they will not release him if he faces the death penalty in the United States. Ms. Slepian said she would gladly see the death penalty removed if it sped Mr. Kopp's return to the United States."I'd like to see him dead, but I don't want him to have the luxury of having a quick, painless death," she told The Buffalo News in an article published today. "I'd like to see a slow, painful death. Lethal injection is too good for him."Ms. Slepian said, "If the choice is between extraditing him and having him face a life sentence without parole, or risking extradition to try him on the death penalty, I'd rather have him back here and face the music.""He should be put through a fraction of the anxiety he's put my kids and me through," she told the newspaper. "He will never get justice — what he deserves."Oct. 23, 1998, the night Dr. Slepian was murdered — the shooting, the sight of the fallen doctor, cut down by a sniper's bullet, the trip to the hospital, his final breaths — is still a blur to Ms. Slepian. She does not remember many details but said she would never forget the vow she made that night. She said she promised her husband in the emergency room after they pronounced him dead that she would make sure the person who shot him was caught. "And I promised my children he would be caught," she said. "At least I fulfilled my promise."Mr. Kopp faces state and federal charges of murder and violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by using deadly force against a doctor who performs abortions. Both charges carry a penalty of up to life in prison. The federal charge can bring the death penalty. Mr. Kopp is also a suspect in three nonfatal ambushes of doctors in Canada and one in a Rochester suburb. ...
