Kevin Cooper, Innocent Man Sentenced to Death—An Update
This magazine has been covering the case of Kevin Cooper for almost 20 years. Kevin has been incarcerated for almost 40 years, convicted of a brutal murder of three members of the Ryan family and a child guest in Chino Hills, California in 1983—a murder committed by others, but for which Mr. Cooper was framed. His original trial as well as legal appeals were tainted by gross racism in the San Bernardino sheriff’s Dept, the District Attorney’s office, jury selection, the Superior Court in San Diego, and the California Supreme Court.
Several witnesses saw a white driver and white passengers in the victim’s car after the murders. Kevin Cooper is Black. Blood-stained coveralls worn by a white convicted murderer were turned in to the sheriff’s department by the former girlfriend of the wearer of the overalls and ordered discarded by the sheriff’s department without having been tested. Blood collected at the crime scene was tampered with in the state crime lab. These are only a few of the egregious facts in Kevin Cooper’s frame-up case.
The California Department of Corrections is in the end stages of closing down Death Row at San Quentin State Prison and almost all of the over 600 men who were incarcerated there, some for decades, have been transferred to other prisons in the sprawling California prison system. California has a moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom on state executions and the death chamber has been closed down. Kevin was transferred in May to the California Health Care Facility at Stockton, (CHCF) east of the S.F. Bay Area.
At first it seemed like this prison would be a more humane place than San Quentin, especially because the prisoners are not handcuffed when they leave their cells to shower or go to the yard, and the atmosphere is more peaceful and respectful, prisoners who transferred there report.
However, Kevin has had to relinquish his art supplies because the ones he packed up when he was preparing to be transferred from San Quentin are not permitted at Stockton. He may not be able to continue his painting which he has been doing for over three decades, one of the very few satisfying and creative parts of life lived inside prison walls.
Kevin is a prolific writer and speaker and leader in the pursuit of justice and freedom in his own case. At present, his efforts focus on an appeal of his conviction based on a new California law, the Racial Justice Act, that allows people whose convictions were tainted by racism, to appeal in new court proceedings. Lara Bazelon, a lawyer whose work has focused on overturning racist convictions in legal appeals, is leading a defense team to do just that.
We will keep readers of Socialist Viewpoint apprised of Kevin’s case as it proceeds.
Write to Kevin at:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Unit E1C 107 CHCF
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213