Framed?
Interesting how we can get all fired up about something just hearing one side of the story. I read this commentary in the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat this morning about a guy convicted of murder. After reading it I felt he certainly deserved clemency or another trial.
But, it didn't take long for me to find this page that rebuts arguments for the guy's innocence. They make it sound like the guy certainly is guilty.
Just from what I've read, I'd say the guy might of been rightfully found guilty. His Wikipedia page seems to lean towards guilty, too.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 10:10 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I became interested in this case when his exceution was postponed a couple of years ago so that the blood samples could be tested for a preservative (which, the argument went, would indicate the the blood came from samples taken subsequent to Cooper's arrest and would indicate that the samples had been planted by law enforcement). I have read the California Supreme court decision affirming his conviction and the Ninth Circuit decision affirming his conviction. Much of the case for Cooper's innocence relies on mis-staments of fact and the rankest speculation. There are undoubtedly people on death row who do not deserve to be there, but this guy is not one of them. He's where he belongs.
From People v. Cooper (1991) 53 Cal.3d 771:
First, there was the fact of defendant's escape and hiding out at the house nearest the crime scene at precisely the
time of the crime. Defendant left the house the very night of the murders. The Ryen house could be seen from the Lease
house. Since defendant's telephonic appeals for help had proved vain, he desperately needed a means to get out of the
area, a means the Ryen station wagon could provide. The hatchet that was one of the murder weapons came from within
the Lease house, near the window through which the Ryen house was visible. The sheath for this hatchet was found on
the floor of the very room defendant slept in. Items that could have been the remaining murder weapons were missing
from the Lease house.
In addition to these circumstances, there was the strong shoe print comparison evidence, the cigarette and tobacco
comparison evidence, the match between defendant's blood type and the drop of blood in the Ryen house that was not
from a victim, the bloodstained prison issue button on the Lease house floor, the bloodstained rope (not defendant's blood,
consistent with a victim's blood) found in the closet of the bedroom defendant used, the blood in the Lease house shower
and elsewhere, the hair comparisons, and the other evidence summarized earlier in this opinion.
It is utterly unreasonable to suppose that by coincidence, some hypothetical real killer chose this night and this locale
to kill; that he entered the Lease house just after defendant left to retrieve the murder weapons, leaving the hatchet sheath
in the bedroom defendant used; that he returned to the Lease house to shower; that he drove the Ryen station wagon in the
same direction defendant used on his way to Mexico; and that he happened to wear prison issue tennis shoes like those of
defendant, happened to have defendant's blood type, happened to have hair like defendant's, happened to roll cigarettes
with the same distinctive prison issue tobacco, and so forth.
Devils's Advocate: How did he kill so many people with so many different objects? Don't know that answer.
I lived in LA during this time and wondered about how they just "found" him and arrested for the murders since he had been staying in a house nearby. The blood samples that were tested that showed that they had been in a "sample tube" before that time was different. He may have done the crimes but then again he may not have with the loss of evidence that went on and the police wanting to arrest the person,. That was what LA did - guilty or not. The crime lab lost a lot of information over the years - even Marilyn Monroe's death information was lost so it could not be determined if she committed suicide or not. Cover ups in big cities - maybe - just don't know for sure.
He was arrested because he raped a woman at knifepoint. He had done the same thing in Pennsylvania (and stole the victim's car, too). That's why, when he was caught here in California, he gave a false name, because he was wanted back there. The evidence against this guy is overwhelming, and there is no evidence that anyone else was involved.
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