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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Mistrial declared in Cooper case
By TIM GURRISTEROGDEN -- Calling it his first in 17 years on the bench, a judge Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of Cody Cooper, charged with rape and kidnapping.
At issue are alleged messages on Cooper's cell phone from his accuser, his girlfriend, that apparently support the defense claim she only pressed sex charges to force Cooper to pay her medical bills.
The bills were incurred from injuries the woman suffered when Cooper beat her on Aug. 20, 2006, breaking her nose, knocking a tooth out and causing one eye to swell shut.
The defense doesn't contest the beating, noting the "sick, violent" relationship included her assaults on him.
But Cooper denies the charges of rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.
The mistrial was declared by 2nd District Judge Michael Lyon when the prosecution objected Wednesday after defense attorney Kent Snider disclosed the existence of the cell phone messages.
The trial has been in the works for more than two years.
Lyon was first asked to exclude the messages from the trial by Deputy Weber County Attorney Branden Miles.
Snider subsequently said if the cell phone data was excluded, he would request a mistrial or appeal, both based on his own ineffectiveness as counsel.
Lyon in an interview explained the order of events and his decision shortly after the 1:30 p.m. announcement of the mistrial.
The trial will be rescheduled for sometime in February.
"It's a first for me," the judge said.
Rule 16 of the Utah rules of Criminal Proceedings require disclosure of all evidence by both sides, he said, and Snider clearly did not disclose the cell phone evidence in a timely manner.
But the judge said he was reluctant to exclude the cell phone tapes because they "go to the heart of the defense case."
For the prosecution to be able to respond to the recording, or recordings, Lyon said, would have required weeks of investigation.
He hasn't had the messages played for him, Lyon said, but heard representations of what they involve, which he wouldn't discuss.
The trial has been fraught with delays, including a first-day jury no-show Monday through a communication glitch.
It was scheduled to run through today.
It has been rescheduled numerous times since Cooper's October 2006 arrest, when DNA testing on both sides became drawn out and attorneys changed on both sides.
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