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Thursday, October 05, 2006
Ind. Decisions - Supreme Court decides one today
In Curtis Cooper v. State, a 13-page, 5-0 opinion in a direct appeal from the Marion Superior Court, Justice Rucker writes:
A jury convicted Curtis Cooper of murdering Selena Orum and recommended a sentence of life without parole. The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation. In this direct appeal Cooper argues that the State engaged in prosecutorial misconduct requiring the reversal of his conviction and sentence. We affirm the conviction but remand for a new sentencing phase of trial. * * *Unlike the guilt phase of trial where Cooper presented a highly untenable claim—self-defense in light of evidence that Selena was shot from behind—here the claim is much more plausible. Without the drumbeat repetition assailing Cooper’s character, the jury may very well have concluded that violating probation for resisting law enforcement is not so serious an aggravator as to outweigh the claim that Cooper had no prior history of criminal conduct and that a life sentence would pose a hardship on his three minor children. We are persuaded that the cumulative effect of the prosecutor’s remarks hampered the jury’s ability to decide dispassionately whether Cooper should receive a term of years rather than life without parole. He was thus denied a fair trial. We therefore vacate Cooper’s sentence and remand this cause for a new sentencing hearing. [emphasis added by ILB]
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 5, 2006 09:56 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions