Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991 TAG: 9103160118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Alexander Cooper, 31, was convicted of murder last week in the death of Robert Parker, the dealer's former financial adviser. Cooper ordered him killed after Parker turned federal informant.
Jurors said Friday that they found Cooper clearly intended to use lethal force against Parker and gave substantial forethought to the crime, factors which alone might have led them to impose death.
But those factors were outweighed by Cooper's troubled upbringing and his lack of a prior criminal record, the jury found.
"Obviously we're relieved - very satisfied that the jury understood what we were doing throughout this trial," Cooper's attorney, Rick Halprin, said outside court.
"The jury felt mercy there, but we still feel a strong statement was made," U.S. Attorney Fred Foreman said, adding the federal law should be changed to make it harder for jurors to show sympathy over mitigating factors.
It will be up to U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur to sentence Cooper in the absence of a jury recommendation. No immediate sentencing date was set.
The judge has said that as he reads the federal statute, he would be required in such a case to sentence Cooper to life in prison without parole. Defense attorneys have questioned that interpretation.
In thanking the jury, Shadur noted that the case is the first to come to trial under a 1988 federal law that sanctions the death penalty for murders ordered by drug dealers as part of their business.
"You are the first jury to deal with this statute. We have done many things that have not previously been tested," the judge said.
The verdict came on the 28th anniversary of the last federal execution, that of Victor Feuger, hanged in Iowa on federal murder and kidnapping charges.
by CNB