OGDEN -- A Washington Terrace man is facing prison when he is sentenced next month following his conviction this week for a violent 2006 rape.
A jury found Cody Richard Cooper, 32, guilty of rape, aggravated sexual assault and sodomy, all first-degree felonies. He was found not guilty of aggravated kidnapping.
Cooper is facing six years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 19. He is being held without bail at Weber County Jail.
Thursday's verdict comes after nearly three years of delays due to extensive evidence-gathering, an earlier mistrial and personal issues with one of Cooper's defense attorneys.
Deputy Weber County Attorney Branden Miles said he is pleased that after years of hard work by an extensive investigative team, Cooper will now face justice in a case that has proved difficult for both prosecutors and the victim.
"We've had this go on for a long time," he said. "(The victim) was very brave for sticking with us the entire time to get this done."
Police say Cooper beat and raped his former girlfriend on Aug. 20, 2006, after the two met to work out details of their breakup. The woman later asked Cooper to take her home, but he instead drove her to his Washington Terrace basement apartment, where he violently forced her out of his truck, said Weber County Sheriff's Capt. Klint Anderson.
Once inside the apartment, Cooper beat and raped the woman throughout the night. He allowed her to leave the next afternoon, and she went to police.
Anderson said deputies obtained a search warrant for Cooper's home and found a considerable amount of evidence to back up the victim's story. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Cooper, but he managed to evade capture for about a month.
Cooper was originally tried in December 2008, but the proceedings ended in a mistrial following a dispute between prosecutors and the defense over a number of alleged text messages that Cooper received from his accuser.
Cooper's defense attorney claimed the accuser had also beaten Cooper on a number of occasions and that the messages proved the woman pressed charges only to get him to pay for her medical bills.
Miles said the defense failed to disclose the wording of the messages at the start of that trial. Second District Judge Michael Lyon ruled both sides are bound to disclose all evidence in a timely manner and declared a mistrial at the request of prosecutors.
A new trial was scheduled for earlier this year, but was delayed at the request of Cooper's defense attorney for personal matters.
Miles said Cooper's first trial was also delayed because it took nearly a year to analyze forensic evidence and complete DNA testing.
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