THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602050045
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
More than a year after two receptionists were killed moments apart in rifle attacks on two Boston-area abortion clinics, the man accused of murdering them goes on trial.
Jury selection was to begin today in Norfolk Superior Court, where John C. Salvi III faces two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of assault with intent to murder.
One defense psychiatrist said Salvi suffers from delusions, including the belief that Roman Catholics are summarily fired from their jobs as part of an ``economic holocaust.''
Salvi's attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., said his client was so obsessed with a perceived conspiracy against Catholics that he was unable to help in his own defense.
``He remains obsessed with a grand conspiracy against Catholics by members of the Ku Klux Klan, Mafia and Freemasons and is focused solely on his delusional ideas to solve the crisis,'' Carney said just days before the trial was to begin.
Norfolk Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara wasn't convinced, and deemed Salvi fit to stand trial based on a ``preponderance of evidence.''
Salvi said all along that he wanted to stand trial and that he would want the death penalty if convicted.
Carney plans to present an insanity defense.
On the morning of Dec. 30, 1994, Salvi allegedly walked into one clinic and then the other, asking each time if he was in the right place before pulling a semiautomatic rifle from a duffle bag and opening fire.
Prosecutors say he killed receptionist Shannon Lowney and injured three other people at Planned Parenthood before moving two miles up Beacon Street to Preterm Health Services.
There, receptionist Lee Ann Nichols was shot nine times and killed after begging for her life. Two other people were wounded.
Salvi was arrested in Virginia a day after the Brookline attacks after police say they caught him shooting through the windows of the Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk. No one was injured in that shooting.
Carney said that jury selection is expected to take three to five days.
He said that the jury selection process devised by Judge Dortch-Okara is designed to explore subtle biases and prejudices individuals may have concerning mental illness, the insanity defense and the abortion issue.
Dortch-Okara said she will require prospective jurors to provide extensive personal information, such as membership in religious and social organizations.
A four-page questionnaire will be distributed to jurors today. Attorneys for both sides will rely on the questionnaire to question jurors before agreeing to have them seated. MEMO: The Associated Press and the Boston Globe contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John C. Salvi III faces two counts of first-degree murder and five
counts of assault with intent to murder. One defense psychiatrist
says he suffers from delusions.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION TRIAL by CNB