By WBFO News
Buffalo, NY – A federal judge has rejected convicted killer James Kopp's request for a new trial.
Kopp claimed that a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision in its January 25 verdict convicting him on charges stemming from his killing Dr. Barnett Slepian.
U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara also refused to hold a hearing on Kopp's claims that a juror, who was weeping at the time of the verdict, never clearly answered Arcara when he asked her if she did indeed find Kopp guilty.
And the judge ruled there was no compelling evidence of external influence on the jury, as the law requires, to reject a verdict.
Kopp was already sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering Slepian in his home in 1998 with a single shot from a high-powered rifle.
He is scheduled to be sentenced June 19 by Arcara.
The federal convictions -- interfering with abortion services by killing Slepian and using a firearm to do so -- carry a possible life term in prison.