Justice Delayed, With a Life on the Line

Our very flawed criminal justice system is a result of "American exceptionalism" hubris. Those who are fortunate enough not to be snatched by it think it's the greatest institution in the world. As evidenced by the relative paucity of comments to this column, most people just don't care. if they bother to think about it at all, they argue that if Cooper is in prison, he must have done something to deserve it. Many people asked why Christine Blasey Ford didn't report the alleged assault by Brett Kavanaugh when it happened. In addition to other explanations, remember that Kavanaugh's mother was either the county prosecutor or a judge at the time. Given the way our so-called criminal justice system works, if she had reported it, she could have ended up charged with a crime herself, in order for a powerful mother to protect her son.

I have written twice to Governor Brown and have heard nothing from his office! He says he wants more people showing an interest an interest in our broken criminal justice system, which I have done as a recently retired person who volunteers with the California Reentry Program at San Quentin with lifers up for parole. But what is taking so long for him to authorize the DNA testing of Mr. Cooper and any other alleged guilty persons? Truly?! What is going on? Make a decision to move forward so a possibly innocent man doesn’t get murdered. Easy decision, Governor Brown. Authorize the testing NOW! Don’t disappoint your Bay Area constituents.

For all those asking Mr. Kristof for evidence, read his previous column that is linked to in this column. what happened to Kevin Cooper: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/17/opinion/sunday/kevin-coop...

No doubt Brown is scared of a lawsuit by a convicted but innocent man. How much $$$ will the state have to pay for the theft of 33 years of a man’s life?

If Mr Cooper had stayed in his prison cell instead of escaping, he could have avoided all this drama. What a *coincidence* that his escape route took him to a quiet exurban neighborhood that *just happened* to be where a mass murder took place. Talk about bad luck! Btw, when the Chino prison was built in the 1940s, it had no walls or fences. The do-gooder warden tried to win the hearts and minds of his prisoners and truly rehabilitate them. Apparently that didn’t work out as he planned ...

The delay of justice in the US is its most common form of denial. I am amazed at the proclivity of Americans to want to keep wounds open rather than try to heal them.

Why doesn't Brown allow the testing? We can speculate that he must fear that if the results are known, more attention will be paid to the case, and something else will come out. Perhaps it's something done wrong by somebody that Brown believes doesn't deserve the hassle. There's a story worth pursuing.

Governor Brown protested that Kristof’s reporting was one sided and left out important elements. For me as a reader, that leaves a gaping hole begging to be filled. Yet Kristof fails to report on any of Brown’s assertions. As much as I want to believe this reporting, I find it very difficult to believe it cannot be as simple as Kristof asserts. Governor Brown is a thoughtful person and would not let justice be denied if the evidence were so clear.

Governor Brown: I am not sure what your "issue" is, but this is reprehensible! You have a moral imperative to order that advanced DNA testing be used in this case IMMEDIATELY! Our country is full of horror shows, and you have allowed this to be one of them. I do not understand HOW you can have allowed this to drag on when there is testing that will most probably solve the case, and perhaps free an innocent man, and have the proper criminal punished????? I JUST DON'T GET IT...AND I DO NOT CARE TO GET IT! Something is very wrong with anyone who could allow this to go on.

I wonder if InJustice Kavanaugh, having wailed so plaintively about having been wrongly accused, will listen with different ears to the claims of petitioners who come before the Supreme Court complaining that they've been wrongly convicted? I bet not. Here's hoping Gov. Brown does the right thing. That an innocent person may be on death row is devastating. We owe Kevin Cooper everything we've got, and even more if it's determined that he's innocent.

Months after reading about this case and nothing has changed. I can't understand why Brown is still dragging his feet. DNA testing of the evidence is the morally correct thing to do. Unless someone's wrong conviction and subsequent reversal embarrassing a friend I guess.

Alexander Harrison sympathizes with anyone in prison, since I have been incarecerated myself on 3 different continents:in Jiddah, S,A for drunk driving on my motorcyle, in France for "infraction a la loi des etrangers," in other words not renewing my "permis de sejour"several times, and the third time while in h.s. , Paul D. Schreiber H.S.for a teen age prank, spring 1954, but which nonetheless made the front page of the Times newspaper, where I am described as "smirking!"But back to the main issue which is that of Mr. Cooper, incarcerated for decades for a multiple homicide which he maintains he did not commit. But Mr. Kristof, where did the accused say he was at the time of the killings, and can he corroborate it?There is no equal justice before the law for those who r unable to pay the F.Lee Baileys and Jerry Spences of the legal world, so have u tried to contact Cal. Bar and the defense lawyer, no doubt a public defender to find out what his or her take is on it. Ironic and regrettable that Governor Brown is so indulgent when it comes to giving the benefit of the doubt to "indocumentados"but when it comes to Mr. Cooper,a citizen"il s'en fout pas mal" it appears. Please get on the case yourself because Alexander Harrison is not incurious about the alibi of Mr. Cooper. Kudos for bringing this injustice to our attention nonetheless!

@Nick Kristof, please do not harass Gov. Jerry Brown, he just wants to sit out his term and retire to his mountain ranch. This is a classic statement of a man who has spent most of his adult life in politics, "I suggested that for an innocent man on death row, every extra day is no minor thing. Brown shrugged and observed that California has 130,000 prisoners." Why does California have 130,000 prisoners? has anybody in political power in California questioned it? What did Sen Harris, our former Attorney General do about it, no don't answer it, it was only a rhetorical question. Brown just wants to kick this can down the road and leave office with a surplus and hope that history will remember him kindly. It might, except for the fact we have a public pension bomb, severe water shortage, ground water pollution by the oil and gas industry, a not so mysterious shortchanging of oil royalties to the State, regressive sales tax, stranglehold of big city and Sacramento politics by corporate interests with the kind folk at PG&E leading the pack. They just might be relegated to the background by the Tech industry power. I don't know much about his first gig as Governor back when but this time around he's the best conservative leaning Democratic Governor any self respecting Conservative would have wanted and got.

Last week when the politicians running the government would not agree to a wide ranging FBI investigation, the media stepped up and did the investigating for us. The Washington Post even found a witness in hiding, Mark Judge, saving the FBI the trouble of locating a recalcitrant witness. Most likely there wouldn’t be any attention paid at all to Mr. Cooper’s plight if not for the loud voice of Mr. Kristoff through the NYT. And everything we know about #45s tax returns is compliments of the thorough investigation by the NYT, and not from Trump himself. I can see a whole new meme trending: Fake Government

A few questions: 1. What led the jury to convict Cooper of the crime? You claim he was framed, but provide no evidence. 2. What is wrong with a criminal justice system that takes 35 years and still doesn't execute the sentence handed down by a judge and jury? 3. Is there a possibility that the DNA evidence will be inconclusive, and what then? All that being said, let's do the DNA testing, and if it fingers Cooper, execute him the next day. If it exonerates him, release him immediately.

Thank you, again, Kristof. I wrote both now Senator Harris, and Gov Brown when you wrote the first column, and shared it. I've written Brown again. He shrugged? That's despicable. As your last, I will share this again.

The governor should be ashamed of himself. His failure, without any (plausible or defensible) justification, to take timely action within his power to ensure that a potentially innocent man is not executed (and is not forced to spend another minute wrongfully incarcerated and deprived of his freedom) exacerbates the blatant and pervasive racism against African Americans that pervades and has delegitimized the US criminal justice system and is corroding and threatens the very survival of the US as a constitutional democracy. Brown, your legacy hangs in the balance, do the right thing and act now!

I'm totally baffled why Governor Brown is stonewalling this. What skin does he have in this game, to keep Cooper locked up yet knowing that an advanced DNA test could clear up the matter faster than one can say crime and punishment? I thank Nicholas Kristof for keeping this issue alive in the hopes it can spur Brown to action. Since he's clearly punting such advanced testing to his successor to handle, what is it I'm missing? Does Governor Brown see a risk in exposing embarrassing information regarding how the initial 1983 case was originally handled? Is something about uncovering the truth going to impact him personally? Given Governor Brown's liberal credentials and long experience running California, I'd think he, of all people, would like to make sure his legacy doesn't include keeping the wrong man locked up for 35 years for want of a simple test unavailable in 1983.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the US government has executed 1,483 people: 827 of them white (55.8%), 508 of them black (34.3%), 124 of them Hispanic (8.4%), and 24 of them other (1.6%). This is according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Yet, according to the US Department of Justice, blacks committed 52.5% of all homicides from 1980 to 2008 and whites committed 45.3%. Considering this information, I find the standard liberal truism that the death penalty is racist extremely puzzling. I would very much like to hear Mr. Kristof candidly address it in one of his future editorials. I could understand calling the death penalty racist, if the basis of the argument was the fact that those who murder black people are too seldom given the death penalty. The murdering of black people simply doesn't appear to be treated as seriously as the murdering of white people. But if it were, it would result in the executions of significantly more black people. And I don't think that this is what those who denounce the death penalty as racist have in mind. All of this being said, the man discussed in this article may very well be innocent. Our justice system is faulty, to be sure.

NICK KRISTOF Writes powerfully of the case of a man who could apparently be exonerated by the use of advanced DNA testing. I hope that Jerry Brown will see his way clear to approving the testing. I have trouble getting my head around the idea that prisoners must be forced to serve their full terms even if new technologies unavailable at the time of the crime and trial could potentially exonerate them. On top of that, the alleged killer has written a confession. So what's the wait about Jerry?

What a nightmare for this man. Come ON, Gov. Brown. this is a simple issue. It takes approximately 10 minutes to know all the ins and outs of it. Why are you taking so long?

Was a much younger Jerry Brown governor during the original investigation and conviction? If so, he has more of a responsibility to see justice is carried out, that a further DNA analysis is conducted.

Please continue to write these articles. People have to know.

No one likes to see an innocent person in jail and the topic is rightfully the subject of newspaper headlines, investigative reports, and news specials. However, NYTimes readers, please look beyond this article for the evidence against this convicted murderer. It’s startlingly overwhelming. I think sometimes there is a great urge by this paper and it’s reader to stamp out injustice, even when an injustice perhaps has been carried out. Kevin Cooper is guilty of murder and his attorneys are simply doing their job in delaying his reckoning. Do your homework. https://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/CooperReview.htm

Justice delayed is justice denied. No innocent person should be punished irrespective of colour of the person. Thirty five years is too long a time for getting justice. When Kevin Cooper and Lee are willing to undergo advanced DNA test, why delay further ?

And if DNA proves your "victim" guilty, Mr. Kristof? What then? Will you and NYT admit it, or will you claim some sort of trickery by prosecutors?

Of course I agree with those who say do the DNA test. But I'm more than a little bothered by Governor Brown's comment: "He [Brown] also protested that my reporting on the case, which led to widespread calls for DNA testing, was one-sided and had “left out a number of elements.” What did he say you left out Nick? Did you?

Very sad to learn that 35 years of precious life of Kevin Cooper was deliberately murdered by the authorities concerned. Those days are never going to return. Who is going to punish the big shots who are responsible for this heinous crime ?

Mr. Kristof is probably correct, but I don't know, especially after his gratuitous attacks on Woody Allen.

Kevin Cooper has done some unforgivable things, including kidnapping and rape. He may have killed these people, or he may have been framed. Ultimately, it doesn't matter: there is always a margin of error when determining the facts of events past, and this insurmountable possibility of error makes the death penalty unconscionable in a society that claims to value justice and freedom.

This obviously highlights defects in our judicial system but I feel it is representative of a deeper flaw in our society. The refusal to adopt proven scientific principles to help advance our lives. It seems to be a no-brainer that if evidence exists that can be reanalyzed with modern methods that may shine a light into the darkness of a questionable verdict, the analysis should be done. The same can be said for many other advances be it automatic train stop, climate change, renewable energy etc. Ignorance by the public and our elected officials is a real drag on advancement of our society.

What is the possible objection to this testing? The only objection I can think of is the "need" of the judicial system to avoid exposure of false convictions ... and that any Governor, let alone a notably-liberal one, would support that is scary.

How about you tell us something of the other side that is troubling Gov. Brown? He seems to feel some reluctance, and he's no conservative hard head. Why? You've talked with him about that too, so tell us.

What are Jerry Brown's stated reasons for opposing advanced DNA testing? Cost?

Thank you, fellow Oregonian Nicholas Kristof, for your reporting on this. One small correction judges don't grant parole; parole boards do. Still the parole board study is instructive to judges and we judges generally understand that such small things as hunger or a bad mood may affect our decisions and try to be aware of such matters. I'll write again to Governor Brown.

Government's refusal to do DNA testing is not only a problem in California. The attorney general of my state, Washington, just announced that there is a backlog of 6,460 evidence rape kits from 208 law enforcement agencies in the state. Many of the kits have been in storage for years, with the oldest untested kit dating back to 1982. Some are in storage because DNA analysis has never even been requested. Some kits were submitted for testing, but have not been tested yet. There was just an arrest made for a rape that took place in 2007, based on evidence from one of these kits. The victim's rape kit was not tested until 2017--she waited over a decade just for an arrest to be made, not to mention for some kind of justice. Testing the kits could “identify serial rapists, link cases across the country, provide critical links that could solve homicide cases and provide answers to victims and their families,” the attorney general’s office said. There are many other states where evidence kits remain untested for years. Washington is not unusual. Why do states drag their heels when it comes to evidence testing? Victims of serious crimes deserve better. And, as Kristof's column makes clear, so do those accused and convicted of crimes they may not have committed.

People in law enforcement and the administration of justice must, like all of us, just admit and face our mistakes and errors, study them earnestly, discuss them and learn from them. These are opportunities to improve a process that is a pillar of both our democracy and civilization. So much is at stake, it has to be done. Instead, politicians and former officials want to be opaque and evasive about their mistakes. Sometimes, the innocent are wrongly convicted while a lot of bad actors are turned loose. That has to stop. We know why some of these mistakes occur. Conviction integrity units of some prosecutors’ offices know why. But reviews are downstream from the real hard issues that caused the wrongful arrests and prosecutions. We need better quality control checks earlier in the prosecutorial process. The nation’s DA conviction review teams need to be networked and their findings studied. The Innocence Project attorneys should share their wisdom and experiences with them.

Agreed, Nicholas. I have sent a number of communications to the office of the Governor of the State of California pleading to not let this lack of investigation into the case tar his otherwise excellent legacy. And I have also sent communications to the office of Senator Kamala Harris to let her know that, given that she was once California's Attorney General and could have pushed for further investigation into this situation, that she will get no support from me (and hopefully many others) in her nascent Presidential bid unless she supports the necessary testing steps to see if there was a miscarriage of justice. Given she is one of the loudest voices for the proposition that facts matter, it is highly hypocritical that she is not pushing to find out whatever facts there are in this case.

The larger question is WHY ISN’T DNA TESTING MANDATORY IN ANY MURDER CASE? How can any country that claims to value justice let any evidence sit around waiting for the whims of a Governor?

It is inconceivable in this day and age that DNA testing is not the default starting point for any "review" of old murder, rape, assault and all other crimes resulting in physical harm concerned. While DNA testing is not exactly cheap, this excuse for not employing it succeeds only in cheapening the value of human life. DNA test results are not perfect. But they are good, very, very --many, many very(s)-- good. So good, in fact, that states and their prosecutors balk at their (DNA testing) application for one reason: reputations are at stake. The fear that their own self-regard, personally and institutionally, will be deflated and bring them down to the level of mortal humans, or imperfect institutions is humanly understandable but morally abhorrent. It's very Trumpish, this resistance to any chance of being shown to be wrong. Deny, deny, deny then lie, lie, lie. Repeat.

Mr. Cooper may, or may not, be guilty of the murders for which he was convicted. All who are convicted may, or may not, actually be guilty of the crime. That even applies to those who plea bargain. The criminal justice system revolves around the concept of a fair trial to a jury in a court of law backed up by an appeals precess to ensure that the defendant actually received a fair trial. We all want to believe that the criminal justice system is fair. In this case, and unfortunately in many other cases, defendants, and the lawyers defending them, cannot access critical evidence without the approval of a government official. Prosecutors and police officers screen investigation files before their contents are shared with the defendant and his attorney. And governors approve requests for DNA tests. Legislators may or may not appropriate the funds needed to process DNA evidence. Reality is found in the title of the case, State of California v. Kevin Cooper. Gov. Brown is refusing to take the appropriate action and order the appropriate DNA tests. Government hates to admit its mistakes.

I can't figure out the reluctance of executives to review compelling evidence in a death penalty case. Nor can I figure out the reluctance to hold prosecutors to the highest standards in death penalty cases. But we see it over and over. A governor tells us the he followed the law, the time has run out, appeals were filed too late, evidence was surfaced too late, and in some cases the execution moves forward in the face of compelling exonerating evidence. Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham in the face of evidence that supported that flashover rather than arson was responsible for the spread of the lethal fire, despite every level of government knowing and understanding that the condemning evidence was weak enough to exonerate Willingham. Why the rush to kill him? I don't expect support from our Supreme Court now anymore than in the past - prosecutorial malfeasance in New Orleans got a wrist slap, and governors move glacially to seek justice. But I don't understand the reality either. Only in rare cases when malfeasance is demonstrated clearly or new ways of processing evidence like DNA come to light can one really re-open a closed case. Aren't those the types of things that should re-open a death penalty case?

Mr. Kristof, keep speaking truth to power. It's infuriating when something as now commonplace as DNA testing that could provide answers is simply ignored. Mr. Brown has never spent much time in a prison, or he'd jump to it. I have a feeling this is "well, maybe he isn't guilty of this one, but he's guilty of something" .

Why isn't DNA testing required for all Felony Trials ? It is difficult to imagine one person killed four people in such a violent manner and almost killed a fifth. However, Mr. Kristof you should provide an outline of the case against Mr. Cooper as you did the case for it not being Mr. Cooper. Rather odd that Mr. Lee would want his DNA tested unless he knows he did not commit the murder or does not believe his DNA is present on the remaining evidence. And what will you say Mr. Kristof if the DNA tests do not exonerate Mr. Cooper ? Meanwhile, Governor Brown, while not carry out the DNA Tests ?

Gov. Brown is a liberal on some issues but is really out of touch with ordinary people. No surprise--he was born to the political aristocracy as his father was governor of California. I remember when he was in between his two stints as governor, and had a program on KPFA-FM. He used to advocate that children should be home schooled--this in the Bay Area where large numbers of residents aren't native speakers of English and don't have enough education to properly instruct their children. An area where both parents work outside the home in order to make ends meet--and some of those parents hold two jobs. He also advocated for replacing the supermarkets with co-ops, where every member put in so many hours per week labor instead of having paid employees run the store. How many working parents have a few extra hours per week to stock shelves and check out customers? So I'm not surprised that he is in no hurry to act on this case. The time and lives of 130,000 prisoners are just not that high on his radar screen.

Prosecutors go into politics. Convictions found to have been wrongful could endanger political careers. Convictions are incentivized. Justice is hopefully a side-effect.

Please keep bringing such things to light, Mr. Kristof. I am at a loss to understand why testing hasn't been done and there is no political reason in the world, no reason whatsoever, to excuse such recalcitrance.

Doing the DNA test is the right thing to do. No matter what it proves it should be carried out. We just had an ugly confirmation fight in the Senate and the nation about whether or not Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual assault as a teenager. Plenty of people argued that he shouldn't penalized for what he did as a teen. It was 36 years ago and there's no proof. Here there's doubt, a man has spent 35 years in prison awaiting death, the other suspect is more than willing to have his DNA tested to prove HE didn't do it and what; it can't be done because it's too expensive? If you're going to execute someone for a crime at least be sure they did it. Unlike Kavanaugh, who might be able to redeem himself, death is not something people recover from.

Mr. Kristof, Please continue bringing this to the public's consciousness! Every party who wants to have the testing pursued deserves to have their case heard. Jerry Brown is obviously nonchalant about how much time a potentially innocent man is losing while languishing in prison. That's far from progressive - and if this case puts political pressure on him to live up to his reputation as a liberal leader, let's let the governor feel it.

The refusal to examine the DNA evidence and consider exonerating Cooper is very strange. This isn't a matter of liberal or conservative, it's a matter of truth, of examining the evidence and determining the truth. And the governor's actions show profound irresponsibility, unless he's got a hidden agenda of having maybe a Republican following him order the DNA testing and be the hero saving a black guy's life, in a Republican-benefiting melodrama. Or maybe he wants the execution to set off some West Coast riots, maybe even start a round of civil unrest leading to gun control and other autocratic crackdowns. These Boss Hogg scenarios are bullcookies, totally unacceptable. The governor should not even have the power to impede the examination of new evidence and determine some truth in the case. Brown should not even have the power.

Like the Kavanaugh confirmation we just suffered through, this case is governed by politics. Reputations of career politicians and of many in law enforcement are on the line, otherwise DNA testing would proceed. We should always hope that justice will prevail, and we should do everything we can to ensure that it does, but at this point it would be a minor miracle if Kevin Cooper ever sees freedom.

If every request for review of evidence were granted, there would never be a finish to the process. What matters is whether the DNA testing will bring the case to a close or whether it is one more dead end. This case has gotten lots of scrutiny. The LA Times has written an extensive and balanced account of the matter. It reached no conclusion. Mr. Kristof's account is all about good guys and bad guys. It lacks balance and appreciation for the complexities. www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-kevin-cooper-20180708-htmlstory.html