Entries tagged with “Kevin Cooper”
Issues
Jan 30, 2023
Attorneys for Kevin Cooper Respond to Special Counsel Report
Kevin Cooper (pictured) is a death-row prisoner in California who was convicted of murdering four people in 1985. He has maintained his innocence of the offense. On January 13, 2023, a special counsel appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to conduct an independent investigation of Cooper’s case released a report dismissing his claims of innocence, stating, “The evidence of Cooper’s guilt is extensive and…
Issues
Jun 01, 2021
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Orders Investigation into Kevin Cooper Capital Murder Conviction
California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered an independent investigation into the case of Kevin Cooper, who has consistently maintained his innocence in the 1983 quadruple-murder for which he was sentenced to death. Newsom’s May 28, 2021 executive order appoints the law firm Morrison and Foerster, LLP as Special Counsel to the California Board of Parole Hearings and directs the firm to “conduct a full review of the trial and appellate records in [Cooper’s]…
Issues
Nov 12, 2019
New Podcast: “Unrequited Innocence” with Rob Warden and John Seasly
At least 166 wrongfully convicted death-row prisoners have been exonerated since the death penalty was reinstituted in the United States in 1973. That number, however, may only scratch the surface in assessing the degree to which innocent men and women are being sent to U.S. death…
Issues
Nov 12, 2019
“Unrequited Innocence” with Rob Warden and John Seasly
Rob Warden and John Seasly speak with Anne Holsinger about their law review article and profile series, “Unrequited Innocence,” which examine death-penalty cases in which prisoners have not been exonerated, despite strong evidence of innocence. Warden, the Executive Director Emeritus of the Center on Wrongful Convictions and a co-founder of both the National Registry of Exonerations and Injustice Watch, and Seasly, a reporter at Injustice Watch, profiled 24 cases involving 25 defendants with…
Issues
May 29, 2018
New Podcast: Columnist Nicholas Kristof on “The Framing of Kevin Cooper”
In his May 20 column in the Sunday New York Times, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Nicholas Kristof (pictured, left) focused national attention on the troubling case of California death-row prisoner, Kevin Cooper (pictured, right) and the disturbing evidence suggesting that San Bernardino police planted blood and other evidence to frame him for murder. Kristof joined DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham for a…
Issues
May 29, 2018
Columnist Nicholas Kristof on The Framing of Kevin Cooper
New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Nicholas Kristof used the power of his pen to focus national attention on the troubling case of California death-row prisoner, Kevin Cooper and to urge Governor Jerry Brown to authorize DNA testing that could resolve outstanding issues of Cooper’s guilt or innocence. Kristof’s May 20 column in the Sunday Times asked: Was Kevin Cooper Framed for Murder? Mr. Kristof joins DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham to answer that question and to discuss…
Issues
May 18, 2018
New York Times Columnist Says Kevin Cooper May Have Been Framed, Urges DNA Testing That Could Prove His Innocence
Citing extensive evidence that California death-row prisoner Kevin Cooper (pictured) may have been framed, New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof has urged Governor Jerry Brown to permit advanced DNA testing of evidence that could potentially prove Cooper’s innocence. In a column electronically posted by the Times on May 17, 2018 and scheduled to appear in the paper’s May 20 Sunday print edition,…
Issues
New Voices
,Jul 12, 2016
NEW VOICES: Former FBI Agent Now Opposes Death Penalty, Seeks Exoneration of California Death Row Prisoner Kevin Cooper
During his 45 years in law enforcement, including 24 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, homicide investigator Tom Parker (pictured) changed his view on the death penalty. “There were times during my career when I would gladly have pushed the button on a murderer,” he said. “Today, my position would be, life without parole.” Parker says that seeing corrupt homicide investigations convinced him that innocent people could be executed. As result, he now opposes…
Issues
Apr 18, 2016
California Death Row Prisoner With Innocence Claim Describes Preparations for His Near Execution
California death row prisoner Kevin Cooper (pictured), whose innocence claims recently spurred the American Bar Association to call for a reprieve, recently authored an article describing what is was like for him to experience nearly being executed on February 10, 2004. Cooper described the days leading up to his scheduled execution, which included round-the-clock monitoring, medical exams, and meetings with his attorneys.
Issues
Mar 23, 2016
American Bar Association Urges Reprieve to Allow Full Investigation of Kevin Cooper’s Innocence Claims
American Bar Association President Paulette Brown has sent a letter to California Govenor Jerry Brown urging him to grant a reprieve to death row inmate Kevin Cooper to permit a full investigation of Cooper’s possible innocence. The ABA President wrote: “Mr. Cooper’s arrest, prosecution, and conviction are marred by evidence of racial bias, police misconduct, evidence tampering, suppression of exculpatory information, lack of quality defense counsel, and a…
Issues
Feb 05, 2016
California Inmate Raises Innocence Claims As State Seeks to Resume Executions
As California’s new lethal injection protocol moves the state towards resuming executions, Kevin Cooper (pictured, left) is seeking clemency from Gov. Jerry Brown on the grounds that he is innocent. Cooper — one of 18 death-row prisoners who have exhausted their court appeals and face execution — was sentenced to death for the 1983 murders of a married couple, their 10-year-old daughter, and the daughter’s 11-year-old friend. However, evidence that was suppressed as a result of police and…
Issues
Dec 29, 2010
EDITORIALS: “Governor, Save Inmate’s Life”
In an editorial, the Los Angeles Times has called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California to commute Kevin Cooper’s death sentence before leaving office in early January 2011. The Times noted that considerable doubt has been cast upon the evidence used to convict Cooper of four murders that occurred in San Bernadino County in 1983. In particular, they cite the analysis offered by federal Judge William Fletcher of the…
Issues
New Voices
,Dec 09, 2010
Possible Case of Innocence on California’s Death Row
A recent op-ed by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof (pictured) of the New York Times focuses on the possible innocence of Kevin Cooper, a black defendant on California’s death row. Kristof writes, “This case is a travesty. It underscores the central pitfall of capital punishment: no system is fail-safe. How can we be about to execute a man when even some of America’s leading judges believe he has been framed?” Cooper…