Brad Cooper / Date set for death-penalty decision by Cooper prosectors

Date set for death-penalty decision by Cooper prosectors


Posted: Today at 9:22 p.m.
Updated: 55 minutes ago

Raleigh, N.C. - Brad Cooper will learn on Dec. 5 whether Wake County
prosecutors will seek the death penalty if he is convicted of killing his
wife.

A Superior Court judge signed an order Thursday afternoon setting the date
for what is called a Rule 24 hearing. That is the time that prosecutors tell
the court whether they will seek the death penalty, First Assistant District
Attorney Howard Cummings said.

A grand jury on Monday indicted Cooper, 35, for first-degree murder more
than three months after his wife's body was found in an undeveloped
subdivision three miles from the Coopers' Cary home. A state medical
examiner's autopsy found she had likely been strangled.

First-degree murder is punishable by either the death penalty or life in
prison without parole. Prosecutors must serve notice if they are going to
ask for the death penalty.

Cooper told police Nancy Cooper went jogging around 7 a.m. on July 12 and
never returned home. Through his attorneys, he has denied being involved
with her slaying, but has admitted to police that he and his wife were
having marital difficulties.

Claiming Cooper was emotionally abusive to his wife in the months prior to
her death; Nancy Cooper's family filed for and was granted temporary custody
of the Coopers' two young daughters.

Cooper remained Thursday evening in the Wake County Jail without bond.



http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3860178/


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