Iron Duke
03-20-2007, 10:38 AM
This upstanding young man was convicted of murdering and ****** a 20 year old University of Delaware student, placing her body in the bathtub and lighting the apartment on fire.
I would like to extend an apology on behalf of all law abiding people for letting down this fine young man who's future is not looking so great at the moment.
Good luck bro.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6896/k03922o3ha1.jpg
Life or death: Jury now weighs Cooke's fate
By ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal
Updated Monday, March 19, 2007 at 6:22 pm
James E. Cooke Jr.
News Journal file
WILMINGTON — The fate of convicted murderer James E. Cooke Jr. is now in the hands of jurors, who met for more than an hour late this afternoon before being sequestered for the night.
Deliberations will resume Tuesday morning.
Cooke addressed the jury for about 15 minutes earlier today before he was stopped after telling a prosecutor he would have “no hope,” if they went one-on-one.
Cooke’s own attorney, Kevin J. O’Connell, stood up and objected at hearing these comments, which were directed at prosecutor Steven P. Wood. He then asked Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy to remove the jury and stop Cooke because he strayed from what he is allowed to talk about during his allocution.
Cooke began arguing, claiming the trial was racially biased against him. This forced Herlihy to have Cooke removed: “That ended it. You’re out.”
Throughout his seven-week capital murder trial, Cooke was removed for back-talking and flare-ups, including an outburst in which he was wrestled to the ground. He was banished for the remainder of the first portion of the trial.
In this second part of his trial, known as the penalty phase, jurors must decide if Cooke will live out his life in prison or be executed for the 2005 **** and murder of Lindsey M. Bonistall.
The jury does not have to return a unanimous verdict. Herlihy has
the final say on the sentence.
O’Connell told jurors that executing Cooke would not bring Bonistall back, nor would it make her famliy whole.
“Another act of violence will not help these fine people,” O’Connell told jurors referring to Bonistall’s parents, Mark and Kathleen. “Only an act of love.”
O’Connell also told jurors that others, including Cooke’s children, needed their father: “James Cooke is a human being worth saving and not a piece of garbage that society should throw out.”
In asking for a recommendation of death, prosecutor Diane Walsh told jurors that Cooke had been an absent father for most of his 11 children and that “he’s been an awful role model for them.”
She also explained to jurors how Cooke’s behavior has increasingly gotten worse and allowing him to live out his life in prison poses a threat to other inmates, as well as prison staff.
Walsh finished her arguments by reminding jurors that tomorrow would have been Bonistall’s birthday.
“Tomorrow, March 20, 2007, would have been Lindsey Bonistall’s 22nd birthday,” Walsh said. “Kathleen and Mark Bonistall won’t get to make a 10-minute phone call to their beautiful daughter.
“They won’t get a one-hour visit with her. They won’t get to send her a birthday card or write to her,” Walsh said. “It will be just like every other pain-filled day for them, mired in grief. The best they’ll ever get is to call Lindsey’s old cell phone number and wait for her recording just to make the day a little brighter.”
Last week, Mark Bonistall testified that they have not discontinued Lindsey’s cell phone -- just so they can hear her on voice mail.
I would like to extend an apology on behalf of all law abiding people for letting down this fine young man who's future is not looking so great at the moment.
Good luck bro.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6896/k03922o3ha1.jpg
Life or death: Jury now weighs Cooke's fate
By ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal
Updated Monday, March 19, 2007 at 6:22 pm
James E. Cooke Jr.
News Journal file
WILMINGTON — The fate of convicted murderer James E. Cooke Jr. is now in the hands of jurors, who met for more than an hour late this afternoon before being sequestered for the night.
Deliberations will resume Tuesday morning.
Cooke addressed the jury for about 15 minutes earlier today before he was stopped after telling a prosecutor he would have “no hope,” if they went one-on-one.
Cooke’s own attorney, Kevin J. O’Connell, stood up and objected at hearing these comments, which were directed at prosecutor Steven P. Wood. He then asked Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy to remove the jury and stop Cooke because he strayed from what he is allowed to talk about during his allocution.
Cooke began arguing, claiming the trial was racially biased against him. This forced Herlihy to have Cooke removed: “That ended it. You’re out.”
Throughout his seven-week capital murder trial, Cooke was removed for back-talking and flare-ups, including an outburst in which he was wrestled to the ground. He was banished for the remainder of the first portion of the trial.
In this second part of his trial, known as the penalty phase, jurors must decide if Cooke will live out his life in prison or be executed for the 2005 **** and murder of Lindsey M. Bonistall.
The jury does not have to return a unanimous verdict. Herlihy has
the final say on the sentence.
O’Connell told jurors that executing Cooke would not bring Bonistall back, nor would it make her famliy whole.
“Another act of violence will not help these fine people,” O’Connell told jurors referring to Bonistall’s parents, Mark and Kathleen. “Only an act of love.”
O’Connell also told jurors that others, including Cooke’s children, needed their father: “James Cooke is a human being worth saving and not a piece of garbage that society should throw out.”
In asking for a recommendation of death, prosecutor Diane Walsh told jurors that Cooke had been an absent father for most of his 11 children and that “he’s been an awful role model for them.”
She also explained to jurors how Cooke’s behavior has increasingly gotten worse and allowing him to live out his life in prison poses a threat to other inmates, as well as prison staff.
Walsh finished her arguments by reminding jurors that tomorrow would have been Bonistall’s birthday.
“Tomorrow, March 20, 2007, would have been Lindsey Bonistall’s 22nd birthday,” Walsh said. “Kathleen and Mark Bonistall won’t get to make a 10-minute phone call to their beautiful daughter.
“They won’t get a one-hour visit with her. They won’t get to send her a birthday card or write to her,” Walsh said. “It will be just like every other pain-filled day for them, mired in grief. The best they’ll ever get is to call Lindsey’s old cell phone number and wait for her recording just to make the day a little brighter.”
Last week, Mark Bonistall testified that they have not discontinued Lindsey’s cell phone -- just so they can hear her on voice mail.