The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
52
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/19841.htm
http://www.nypost.com/photos/news030504005b.jpg
By ERIC LENKOWITZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET THE 'BEAST' ROT
BILLY COOPER
Gets 25 years to life.
March 5, 2004 -- In an emotionally charged sentencing that left a veteran judge and hard-nosed prosecutor choked up, a Queens mom yest
rday stared down the "beast" convicted of murdering her daughter and begged for him to be locked up for good.
"What this monster [Billy] Cooper has taken from me is priceless," H
azel
John said through tears. "His behavior is worse than that of an animal."
Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter, who had to fight back tears of hi
s own, agreed with John and slapped Cooper with a sentence of 25 years to life - but said he wished it could be longer in response to the family request for a life sentence.
"I'd like to do that. My hands are tied," Buchter said. "I recommend that this defendant never gets paroled, never walks the streets of this city again."
Cooper, 31, was convicted last month of murdering Kimberly John, his wife of six weeks, outside her Holliswood home on March 14, 2001.
Prosecutors said Cooper ordered accomplice Lenwood "Smoke" Evans - who is currently on trial for murder - to threaten John, b
ut was unfazed when he shot her three times and acted as Evans' getaway driver.
Cooper sat stone-faced during the sentencing and refused to make a statement to the court.
<b
r>Hi
s lawyer, St
ephen Murphy, told the judge that even if all the evidence presented at trial is true, his client still "didn't want her killed, he wanted her scared."
He then drew tears of disgust from John's family w
hen he suggested Kimberly John must have once loved Cooper for them to get married.
"Could he be that bad of a person that she would marry him?" he asked.
Hazel John had already answered that when she addressed the court.
Kimberly "trusted people, always looking for the best in them regardless of who they were," she said. "She led a clean life free from drugs and alcohol, unlike the element that she so unfortunately found herself involved with."
Kimberly's father, Cecil John, said he was appalled by the def
ense theory that his daughter's murder was a drug buy gone bad.
"My daughter would never be involved in drugs," he said after taking a long pause. "If there is suc
h thing
as saints in heaven,
Kimberly would be one of them.
"What could my daughter do to Billy Cooper for him to have her killed?" he asked. Cooper "was not fair to my daughter. She did not deserve to die the way she did."
The dramatic speeches by Kimberly's parents were so emotional it drew tears from
a handful of case detectives who attended the sentencing.
It also brought out a surprised show of emotion from the case's veteran prosecutor, Jack Warsawsky, who has prosecuted violent criminals for 20 years.
"It finally got to me," he later said.
Hazel John began her speech to the court describing the "screams of horror" from Kimberly's sister and brother when they heard the news of her murder.
"I cannot in words ex
press the pain and grief I feel every day. I was supposed to plan my daughter's wedding, not her funeral."
At the conclusion of her speech, the grieving mother held u
p a large f
ramed portrait of Kimberly s
o her daughter's face would be forever ingrained in Cooper's memory.
"I want for you every night when you close your eyes to see her face," she said. "I want you every night to feel the pain and anguish you left this family."
In a lengthy lecture aimed at Cooper, who wore a Michael Jordan basketball jersey and sat handcuffed, the judge said the case
came down to Cooper's "sick, pathological and depraved need to control her life."
"Ironically, this defendant claims to have loved Kimberly John, leaving romantic messages on her answering machine," Buchter said. "Unfortunately, love had nothing to do with his actions, since at the same time the defendant was professing his love for [her], he apparently was plott
ing her death.
"Kimberly John was a promising and productive young woman whose only mistake was getting involved with Billy Cooper."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/19841.htm
http://www.nypost.com/photos/news030504005b.jpg
By ERIC LENKOWITZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET THE 'BEAST' ROT
BILLY COOPER
Gets 25 years to life.
March 5, 2004 -- In an emotionally charged sentencing that left a veteran judge and hard-nosed prosecutor choked up, a Queens mom yest
rday stared down the "beast" convicted of murdering her daughter and begged for him to be locked up for good.
"What this monster [Billy] Cooper has taken from me is priceless," H
azel
John said through tears. "His behavior is worse than that of an animal."
Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter, who had to fight back tears of hi
s own, agreed with John and slapped Cooper with a sentence of 25 years to life - but said he wished it could be longer in response to the family request for a life sentence.
"I'd like to do that. My hands are tied," Buchter said. "I recommend that this defendant never gets paroled, never walks the streets of this city again."
Cooper, 31, was convicted last month of murdering Kimberly John, his wife of six weeks, outside her Holliswood home on March 14, 2001.
Prosecutors said Cooper ordered accomplice Lenwood "Smoke" Evans - who is currently on trial for murder - to threaten John, b
ut was unfazed when he shot her three times and acted as Evans' getaway driver.
Cooper sat stone-faced during the sentencing and refused to make a statement to the court.
<b
r>Hi
s lawyer, St
ephen Murphy, told the judge that even if all the evidence presented at trial is true, his client still "didn't want her killed, he wanted her scared."
He then drew tears of disgust from John's family w
hen he suggested Kimberly John must have once loved Cooper for them to get married.
"Could he be that bad of a person that she would marry him?" he asked.
Hazel John had already answered that when she addressed the court.
Kimberly "trusted people, always looking for the best in them regardless of who they were," she said. "She led a clean life free from drugs and alcohol, unlike the element that she so unfortunately found herself involved with."
Kimberly's father, Cecil John, said he was appalled by the def
ense theory that his daughter's murder was a drug buy gone bad.
"My daughter would never be involved in drugs," he said after taking a long pause. "If there is suc
h thing
as saints in heaven,
Kimberly would be one of them.
"What could my daughter do to Billy Cooper for him to have her killed?" he asked. Cooper "was not fair to my daughter. She did not deserve to die the way she did."
The dramatic speeches by Kimberly's parents were so emotional it drew tears from
a handful of case detectives who attended the sentencing.
It also brought out a surprised show of emotion from the case's veteran prosecutor, Jack Warsawsky, who has prosecuted violent criminals for 20 years.
"It finally got to me," he later said.
Hazel John began her speech to the court describing the "screams of horror" from Kimberly's sister and brother when they heard the news of her murder.
"I cannot in words ex
press the pain and grief I feel every day. I was supposed to plan my daughter's wedding, not her funeral."
At the conclusion of her speech, the grieving mother held u
p a large f
ramed portrait of Kimberly s
o her daughter's face would be forever ingrained in Cooper's memory.
"I want for you every night when you close your eyes to see her face," she said. "I want you every night to feel the pain and anguish you left this family."
In a lengthy lecture aimed at Cooper, who wore a Michael Jordan basketball jersey and sat handcuffed, the judge said the case
came down to Cooper's "sick, pathological and depraved need to control her life."
"Ironically, this defendant claims to have loved Kimberly John, leaving romantic messages on her answering machine," Buchter said. "Unfortunately, love had nothing to do with his actions, since at the same time the defendant was professing his love for [her], he apparently was plott
ing her death.
"Kimberly John was a promising and productive young woman whose only mistake was getting involved with Billy Cooper."