Kevin Cooper (inmate)
| Kevin Cooper | |
|---|---|
Cooper in 2006
|
|
| Born | 1958 (age 58–59) |
| Nationality | American |
| Criminal charge | Four counts of murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death penalty |
| Criminal status | In prison |
| Conviction(s) | Convicted on all four counts |
Kevin Cooper (born 1958) is a death row inmate currently held in California's San Quentin Prison. Cooper was convicted of four murders that occurred in the Chino Hills area of California in 1983. Since his arrest, Cooper, who is African American, has become active in writing letters from prison asserting his innocence, protesting racism in the American criminal justice system, and opposing the death penalty. His habeas corpus petitions have been denied, however, with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stating in 2007 that "As the district court, and all state courts, have repeatedly found, evidence of Cooper's guilt was overwhelming. The tests that he asked for to show his innocence 'once and for all' show nothing of the sort." In a concurring opinion, however, Judge Margaret McKeown said she was troubled that the court could not resolve the question of Cooper's guilt "once and for all" and noted that significant evidence bearing on Cooper's culpability has been lost, destroyed or left unpursued. In a dissenting opinion written in 2009, Judge William A. Fletcher began by stating: "the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." Fletcher wrote that the police may have tampered with the evidence and that the Ninth Circuit should have reheard the case en banc and should have "ordered the district judge to give Cooper the fair hearing he has never had." Five judges joined in Fletcher's dissent and five more stated that Cooper has never had a fair hearing to determine his innocence.
Cooper was convicted in 1977 for burglarizing a home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to a one-to-two year prison term. Over the next five years, he was arrested and convicted twice more for burglary and was released on probation in 1982. In late 1982, Cooper fled to California after escaping from a Pennsylvania psychiatric facility and was subsequently convicted of two burglaries in the Los Angeles area. He began serving a four-year sentence under the alias David Trautman at the California Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino on April 29, 1983, where he was assigned to the minimum security section. On June 2, 1983, Cooper climbed through a hole in the prison fence and walked away from the prison across an open field.
...
Wikipedia