Insanity Ruled Out in Killing of Abortionist : Trial: Judge disallows defense strategy. But state won’t seek death penalty in prosecution of activist charged with slaying doctor in Florida.

An activist accused of killing an abortion doctor will not be allowed to use an insanity defense, a judge ruled Monday during the first day of jury selection.

Michael F. Griffin, an anti-abortion activist and Christian fundamentalist, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 10, 1993, shooting of Dr. David Gunn.

Circuit Judge John Parnham approved a deal in which the state will not seek the death penalty in exchange for testimony from a jail official who overheard a conversation between Griffin and his wife.

Parnham also warned that he would tolerate no outbursts, showboating or politics in his courtroom.

After a defense attorney complained about spectators wearing lapel pins, Parnham said he was banning any items stating a point of view from his courtroom during the trial.

“This trial itself is not an opportunity for a demonstration,” Parnham said. “The trial is not an opportunity for a protest. And this trial is not an opportunity for the lawyers to obtain exposure.”

Gunn, 47, was shot three times in the back when he arrived at Pensacola Women’s Medical Services to perform abortions while a protest was being held on the opposite side of the clinic.

Griffin, 32, had wanted to use an insanity defense. Prosecutors argued that such a defense should not be allowed because Griffin, on his lawyers’ advice, refused to be examined by a state mental health expert.

Of the 146 prospective jurors who were called in Monday, 36 were excused for health, employment or other personal reasons. The others filled out a questionnaire, and 35 were asked to return today for questioning by lawyers. Others were to be called back later in the week.

Parnham has ordered that prospective jurors be identified only by number and that they be questioned in private on abortion-related matters to protect their privacy. He feared they could be embarrassed or endangered by their responses to such questions.

The judge said he expects jury selection to take about five days and the rest of the trial at least seven days. He has ordered that the jury be sequestered.

Crowd-control barricades were in place around the courthouse. About 10 abortion rights activists demonstrated on one side of the building, and half a dozen anti-abortion activists were on the other.

Later, a passerby confronted four Griffin supporters as they held a news conference a block away. When the Rev. David Trosch, a Roman Catholic priest, said abortion was tyranny, Laura Cobham shouted: “Tyranny is when men like you try to take over the bodies of women.”

Trosch was removed from his Magnolia Springs, Ala., parish last year after he tried to place a newspaper advertisement condoning the killing of abortion doctors.

Trosch and other members of Pensacola-based Defensive Action said they do not encourage such slayings but believe they are justified.

Eight abortion opponents held a prayer vigil Monday at the clinic where Gunn was killed.