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Hundreds cheer outside death row at stay of execution
By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:37 p.m. February 9, 2004

SAN QUENTIN – They chanted. They beat drums. They waved picket signs bearing the face of a black man who came very close Monday night to being put to death for the slayings of four people 20 years ago.

Hundreds gathered outside the gates of San Quentin State Prison to condemn the death penalty as unfair, biased and inhumane. And, in the end, they were heard.

When actor and death penalty opponent Mike Farrell announced to the crowd that the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to intervene, his words were met with thunderous applause.

"The state of California cannot execute Kevin Cooper," Farrell said. "Thank you for letting the governor know he was wrong."

Earlier in the week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to grant Cooper clemency, saying he was clearly guilty.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who met with Cooper on Death Row earlier in the day, thanked the crowd for such a strong showing.

"This is part of a struggle across a nation to remove a system with flaws," Jackson said. "With the help of some very good lawyers ... evidence emerged that the judge and jury never heard. ... I hope that we will in time find out who killed the family."

Cooper, 46, was convicted in the hacking deaths of four people in 1983 and was just hours away from being executed by lethal injection when the courts ruled.

"This case is everything that's wrong with the death penalty," said Michael Smith, a 24-year-old University of California, Berkeley student. "It's just so obvious that Kevin deserves a new trial. The death penalty is racist. It's biased against the poor."

Authorities in San Bernardino who prosecuted Cooper vehemently deny Cooper's claims that he was framed for the crime, and the California Attorney General's office is convinced that new tests will fail to cast any doubt on his guilt, a spokeswoman said Monday night.

Family members of the victims also are convinced Cooper was the killer, said Bill Hughes, whose son, Christopher, was among those slain. Hughes and his wife, Mary Ann, were inside the prison Monday night and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

But he said lethal injection is justified. "I think it's justified. Particularly in this case, they were savage and brutal murders," Hughes said in a telephone interview late Sunday.

California Highway Patrol officers blocked traffic in both directions on Interstate 101 to allow about 200 protesters to cross the freeway. They met up with about 100 more at the prison gate, carrying signs that read: "Stop the Execution" and "No State Murder."

"The middle class doesn't have a voice anymore, so this is our voice," said Dennis Stefani, 62, of Danville, who said he postponed a fishing trip to protest. He said it's only right that all the evidence should be heard.

Robert English, 59, agreed.

"This time I think there was just an overwhelming need to have justice done," English said. "It seems pretty clear he's innocent."

[kcvl]

Save Kevin Cooper

Above are photos taken on a recent visit of Kevin and members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

Kevin Cooper, 46, is due to be executed on Tuesday for using a hatchet, knife and ice pick to kill a couple, their 10-year-old daughter and her friend in 1983.

Kevin Cooper was convicted in 1985 of murdering four people as they slept in a Chino Hills home in 1983.

The events leading up to the murder began February 2, 1982, when he was released from a state prison in Pennsylvania. Following his release, Cooper was arrested and charged with burglary. Prior to his conviction, Cooper was committed to the Mayview State Hospital in Pennsylvania for treatment of a psychiatric disorder. He escaped from that institution on October 8, 1982. On the same date that he escaped from the hospital, Cooper is alleged to have burglarized a nearby home, kidnapped and raped a visitor to that home, and stolen the rape victim’s car.

On December 13, 1982, Cooper applied for and received a California Department of Motor Vehicles identification card using the name David Anthony Trautman.

On January 1, 1983, he committed a burglary in Los Angeles and was arrested. He used the alias David Anthony Trautman, and his true identity was not discovered. He was sentenced to four years in state prison on April 19, 1983 and was received by the California Department of Corrections (CDC) on April 29, 1983. He was transferred to the minimum-security facility at the California Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino on June 1, 1983.

On June 2, 1983, Cooper escaped from CIM. At the time, he was still listed as David A. Trautman.

Cooper made his way to the Chino Hills area and entered a house located on a horse-breeding farm. The house was empty, the breeding operations manager having moved out the previous day. Telephone records and testimony from two witnesses who said they received phone calls from Cooper placed him at the house. One of the witnesses testified that Cooper said he had walked away from the prison.

From the ranch house where Cooper was staying, it is possible to see the home of the Ryen family. On June 4, 1983, the Ryen family attended a barbecue at a friend’s house. With them was a friend of their son Joshua, Christopher Hughes. They all left the party at approximately 9:00 p.m. and returned to their home. The Hughes boy planned to spend the night.

Sometime that night, Cooper entered the Ryen home and killed Franklin Douglas Ryen, his wife, Peggy Ann Ryen, their daughter, Jessica, and Christopher Hughes. He had entered the home and killed them as they slept, using a hatchet and a knife. The Ryen’s son, Joshua, was struck in the head and severely wounded, but survived.

The following morning, Sunday June 5, 1983, the father of Christopher Hughes became concerned that his son had not returned home. Attempts were made to telephone the Ryen house, but the line was busy. Mr. Hughes drove to the Ryen house at about 11:00 a.m. and discovered the victims.

On June 9, 1983, Cooper was hired by a boat owner and was allowed to stay on the boat and perform work for his keep. The boat owner and his family left Ensenada on June 11, 1983 and sailed north. Cooper remained with the family until Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him on June 30, 1983. It was alleged that Cooper had raped a friend of the boat owner’s family. During this time, he had been using the name Angel Jackson.

Arresting officers made fingerprint comparisons and verified that Cooper was wanted in San Bernardino County for the murder of the Ryen family and Christopher Hughes.

Cooper’s trial was moved to San Diego County because of the possibility of prejudicial pre-trial publicity in San Bernardino County, where the offenses occurred.

He was convicted and, on May 15, 1985, was sentenced to death.