Welcome to my Crime and Justice blog! I am a 19 year old criminal justice student at the University of Winnipeg. I advocate for prisoners' rights, human rights, equality and criminal justice/prison system reforms.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Youth in Cooper trial, cannot recall talk about random killing


He was expected to tell jurors about a conversation he had related to the random killing of 34-year-old Spence Street resident Audrey Cooper.
But when the 17-year-old youth took the witness stand Tuesday afternoon, the only thing he remembered was how to spell his name.
“It’s so far back, I don’t remember,” said the youth, when asked about an alleged conversation between himself and a now 19-year-old man on trial for Cooper’s October 2006 killing.
The youth — who is in custody on unrelated matters — refused to testify under oath Tuesday morning. Justice Holly Beard warned the youth he could face a stiff jail sentence if he didn’t testify and gave him the lunch recess to speak to a lawyer.
When the youth returned to court in the afternoon, he affirmed to tell the truth and proceeded to claim he had no memory of discussing Cooper’s death or of his subsequent dealings with police.
Asked if he would like a chance to review his police statement to “refresh (his) memory,” he said: “No, I don’t think it will help.”
The accused was one of four youths arrested for killing Cooper. Two girls, both 14 at the time of Cooper’s death, have since pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
A third girl, 12 at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She is expected to testify against the accused.
The Crown alleges the youths attacked Cooper on her porch after she returned home from a trip to a convenience store to buy a lottery ticket.
Cooper was beaten and stripped naked. She suffered over 60 distinct injuries, including seven broken ribs, a punctured liver and a severed ear.

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