Buffalo, NEW YORK (AP) — It's the first step in a long process of jury selection — where James Kopp is accused of murdering a doctor who performed abortions.

As many as 500 potential jurors will be spending the next three days filling out questionnaires. There are 160 people starting the process today.

Outside the courthouse, there's already a sign of the controversy that will surround the trial.

Four demonstrators from the militant Army of God are handing out fliers to passers-by. The abortion foes say Kopp should be acquitted of murdering Doctor Barnett Slepian — and that the killing was "justifiable homicide."

Kopp has admitted shooting Slepian through a window of his home in 1998 — but says he only wanted to injure him.

Prospective jurors are expected to be asked their views on abortion.

Lawyers from the two sides expect to begin interviewing them next week.