STORY: "Brad Cooper pleads guilty to second-degree murder; gets at least 12 years in prison, by reporter Anne Blythe, published by The News and Observer on September 22, 2014.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Brad Cooper, center, stands with attorneys Laura Meyer, left, and Jim Freeman as he pleads guilty in a Wake County Courtroom on Monday to second-degree murder for killing his wife, Nancy Cooper, in 2008. It was a plea bargain after a retrial was ordered recently. He was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison."
GIST: The N.C. Court of Appeals overturned the
verdict in April 2013, and the N.C. Supreme Court refused to review the
case despite a request from the state attorney general. The
evidence in the case was largely circumstantial. Jurors said afterward
that prosecutors won with computer evidence that defense lawyers tried
to quash. The defense argued that the police investigation of
Nancy Cooper’s death in July 2008 was inept. They had hoped to argue
before the jury that the crucial computer evidence could have been
tampered with and perhaps planted by investigators – arguments that they
planned to introduce through their own expert witnesses. Gessner,
who also presided over the trial in 2011, allowed prosecutors to
introduce evidence of a Google Maps search of the site where Nancy
Cooper’s body had been found. Prosecutors argued that the map search and
time stamps associated with it showed that Brad Cooper had searched for
a site to dump his wife’s body. The defense team at trial, however, raised questions about the validity of the time stamps on the laptop files. Gessner
ruled against the defense’s attempt to classify two witnesses as
forensics experts to raise questions about the computer evidence. The
appeals court judges noted that the “sole physical evidence linking”
Brad Cooper to the homicide was the Google Maps search. “Absent this
evidence, the evidence connecting Defendant to this crime was primarily
potential motive, opportunity, and testimony of suspicious behavior,”
the ruling stated. Further, the appeals court panel added that
“whether the error was constitutional or not,” failure to let Brad
Cooper use his experts was a key error that warranted a new trial. Since
then, Brad Cooper got a new defense team and Freeman, his attorney,
talked with prosecutors about plea offerings that had been on the table
since 2008."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/22/4173131_brad-cooper-pleads-guilty-to-second.html?rh=1
For background on Wrongful Conviction Day see the following link:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2014/06/wrongful-convictions-day-aidwyc.html
Interested participants may sign up by contacting Win Wahrer of The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted at: winwahrer@aidwyc.org.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
