California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered an independent investigation Friday into the 1985 quadruple murder conviction against Kevin Cooper.
Cooper, a black man, was convicted of killing four white people, two of whom were 10 and 11 years old. Cooper was framed by law enforcement, he claimed, and the case has been the subject of scrutiny.
“The investigation will review trial and appellate records in the case, the facts underlying the conviction and all available evidence, including the results of the recently conducted DNA tests previously ordered by the Governor to examine additional evidence in the case using the latest, most scientifically reliable forensic testing,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
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Part of the reason for the governor’s decision was because both sides of the case “have starkly different views” about how the DNA recovered from those tests should be interpreted, the order noted.
“We are gratified that the governor has ordered an independent investigation,” Norman Hile, an attorney representing Cooper, told the Los Angeles Times. “We are confident that a thorough review will demonstrate that Kevin Cooper is innocent and should be released from prison.”
“We would ask the executive branch to respect the findings of 38 years of decision-making within the judicial branch that’s confirmed Kevin Cooper’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt every time,” said San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson. “There are no unanswered questions. So, for this to be ordered is inappropriate.”
Cooper has lost more than a dozen appeals.
Two days before the killings took place, Cooper escaped the prison where he was serving time for a burglary conviction. Investigators concluded they had evidence to believe Cooper stayed in a vacant home near the residence of the slain family for two days before the murders.
Eight-year-old Joshua Ryens, who had his throat slashed but survived the incident, said in a videotaped statement for Cooper’s trial that he saw one man or a shadow in his home when the killings took place. When he was airlifted to a hospital after the attack, Ryens told a social worker and a sheriff’s deputy that those responsible were three white men and an hour later said they were Latino, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Ryens also told a deputy a month later that Cooper wasn’t the person responsible when he saw his face on television.
Advocates have used this conflicting testimony as one of their primary arguments against Cooper’s conviction.
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“Mr. Cooper is a Black man who has served over 35 years on death row, notwithstanding serious concerns about the integrity of the state’s case and the risk that it was marred by racial discrimination,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in a March letter to the governor. “The grave doubts about Mr. Cooper’s guilt have only worsened over time.”
The law firm Morrison & Foerster will be responsible for the investigation.
