NEVER FORGET
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Article Link:
'Tests show COOPER as plausible culprit: DNA efforts haven't paid off for convicted killer'
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2623896,00.html
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Previous Thread:
..The CLINTONS' Att. LANNY DAVIS defends multi-Killer KEVIN COOPER vs Gov. ARNOLD
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1069255/posts
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Mrs. KERRY funds the TIDE Foundation.
The TIDE Foundation funds the National Lawyers Guild.
Mr. KERRY stated during his Presidential Campaign, while the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was considering his KERRY-funded Appeal on behalf of convicted 1981 Chino Hills Slasher KEVIN COOPER, that...
.."I don't believe in the Death Penalty, period"..!!!
The Enemy is now Within...
and always has been.
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In what has become a familiar refrain, the results of new scientific tests don't support Death Row inmate Kevin Cooper's claim that police framed him for the 1983 hatchet murders of four people in Chino Hills. It is the third time science has failed Cooper since February, when a federal appeals court stayed his execution just hours before he was to die and ordered his long-standing protests of innocence examined.
"Every single test we have done has come back concluding that Kevin Cooper was there and committed the murders,' said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer. "And every time the evidence comes up pointing to his guilt (his lawyers) have to come up with some other theory on how he didn't do it.'
The Attorney General's Office on Tuesday released results from the most recent DNA tests on a blood stained T-shirt found near the crime scene.
Cooper claims police planted his blood on the shirt to frame him for the murders of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 11-year- old daughter, Jessica, and 10- year-old houseguest, Christopher Hughes.
All four were hacked to death inside the Ryen family home two days after Cooper escaped from the nearby California Institution for Men state prison.
Traces of the victims' blood are also on the shirt.
A faint smear was tested at Cooper's request earlier this year for the chemical EDTA, a crime lab preservative used by police. An expert chosen by Cooper found no significant levels of the chemical, suggesting that blood on the shirt did not come from a test tube.
That same smear was then tested for DNA to confirm it came from Cooper and not the victims.
The results, released Tuesday, included Cooper is as a possible donor of the DNA and excluded all of the victims.
The DNA profile of the smear is found randomly in the general population in 1 in 46,000 blacks, 1 in 14,000 whites and 1 in 5,900 western Hispanics. Cooper is black.
"We've now looked at the stain, it's his, and it doesn't show planted blood,' Deputy Attorney General Holly Wilkens said. "What more do you need?'
Prosecutors did not present the T-shirt as evidence in Cooper's trial. They consider the planting theory absurd because, if true, police would have planted the blood in the mid-1980s, before DNA technology existed.
Cooper's legal team on Tuesday vowed to continue their fight to prove Cooper innocent. They downplayed the significance of the DNA results and insisted more tests need be performed.
"No reliable conclusions can be made at this time from the testing just completed,' the attorneys said in a written statement.
They want more tests done on the smear to confirm it is blood, and they want additional DNA tests performed on non- stained areas of the shirt to check for background levels of DNA.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Cooper's execution Feb. 9. The justices wanted the T-shirt tested for EDTA, and hairs in the victims' hands tested for DNA, to see if they could have been pulled from the head of an attacker other than Cooper.
The hairs, tested in August, all appeared to have come from the heads of the victims.
Unlike at trial, Cooper bears the burden in these appeals of proving his innocence.
He has failed to meet that burden, prosecutors said.
"The 9th Circuit's order was based on (Cooper's) assertion that these two simple, easy tests could be done and would conclusively establish whether Kevin Cooper is innocent or not,' Barankin said. "Obviously, we've had more than two simple tests and the overwhelming weight of the evidence continues to point to Cooper's guilt.'
U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Huff has given both sides until Jan. 7 to request additional testing.
Huff has appeared skeptical of Cooper's claims throughout months of hearings in U.S. District Court in San Diego, and she hinted during several hearings that she wants to wrap up the case by year's end.
If she denies Cooper's appeals, he is unlikely to face execution anytime soon.
He would again appeal to the 9th Circuit court, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Such appeals are likely to take one to two years to complete.
"The name of the game for Kevin Cooper is stalling us out as long as possible,' Barankin said. "The only thing we can do is keep presenting the facts and the science to the court and hope justice will be done.'
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff has given both sides until Jan. 7 to request additional testing.
Huff has appeared skeptical of Cooper’s claims throughout months of hearings in U.S. District Court in San Diego, and she hinted during several hearings that she wants to wrap up the case as soon as possible.
If she denies Cooper’s appeals, he is unlikely to face execution anytime soon.
He would again appeal to the 9th Circuit court, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Such appeals are likely to take one to two years to complete.
‘‘The name of the game for Kevin Cooper is stalling us out as long as possible,’’ Barankin said. ‘‘The only thing we can do is keep presenting the facts and the science to the court and hope justice will be done.’’
Was the murdered father, Doug Ryan, a vet? Or are you involved because this creep did his crimes on your doorstep, relatively speaking?
And... does he still have a date with the "veterinarian" for long-delayed justice in February...?
If nothing else, it will give Scott Peterson something to think about while he hangs around Death Row until his number comes up.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Well, if the facts don't help, let's base the next appeals on the following: (1) Cooper, while not reterded, has diminished capacity results from a childhood bee sting, (2) Cooper was a victim of his upbringing and suffered mightily, mightily, I say, at the hands of society, and (3) one of the arresting cops had a cousin who once used the "N" word. Yeah, that should get him off.
Thanks for the ping AR! A little ping for Los Angeles area Freepers...
I think we also need to do DNA testing on these lawyers. Could solve many other murder cases.