Salvi Says He Wants to Die If Convicted

NORFOLK, Va. —  The man accused of killing two abortion clinic workers says he wants to die if convicted and to become a priest if acquitted.

The thoughts of John C. Salvi III were revealed Thursday in a handwritten six-page statement that was sometimes mournful, sometimes angry but mostly rambling and confused.

Salvi avoided any mention of abortion. He also didn’t mention the deadly shooting rampage at two suburban Boston clinics and the rifle attack Saturday on the building housing Norfolk’s only abortion clinic.

Two people died and five were wounded in the Massachusetts attack. Salvi made it clear that his missive “is not an admission of guilt.”

He assailed what he said was the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church, said welfare laws are designed to break up families and argued that the church needs to print its own currency to supplement family incomes.

James O. Broccoletti, a criminal-defense lawyer in Norfolk, said he thought Salvi was setting the stage for an insanity plea.

Salvi attended a brief proceeding Thursday in U.S. District Court, where the 22-year-old hairdressing student from Hampton, N.H., agreed to return with federal officials to Massachusetts, where he faces state charges of murder and attempted murder. He was later flown to Boston and will be in court there today.

After his trial, he said, he wants a national forum to explain himself.

“I wish to have an interview with Barbara Walters within the year,” his statement said. “I will not release all information until that interview.”

Walters responded: “I have no intention of interviewing Mr. Salvi. I have not requested an interview and do not intend to do so.”