THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502150482
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOSTON GLOBE
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
After 12 days of testimony from 156 witnesses, a Norfolk County grand jury has indicted John C. Salvi III on murder and armed assault charges in the Brookline abortion clinic shootings.
Salvi will be arraigned Wednesday in Dedham in Norfolk Superior Court on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols and five counts of assault with intent to murder for wounding five others.
If convicted, Salvi faces a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.
U.S. Attorney Donald Stern said federal authorities have put their case against Salvi on hold, at least for now.
Salvi would not be prosecuted on federal charges, including violations of weapons laws and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, until he is tried by Norfolk District Attorney William Delahunt's office, Stern said. Under new crime laws, a federal conviction coupled with a state first-degree murder conviction could carry the death penalty.
Salvi, a student hairdresser from Hampton, N.H., was arrested Dec. 31 after allegedly firing his semiautomatic .22-caliber rifle at an abortion clinic in Norfolk. by CNB