In 1987, the Indiana legislature passed a bill raising the minimum age for a defendant in a death penalty case from 10 years old to 16 years old. Judge Kimbrough died, and the appeals process was slowed as a replacement was chosen. She was front-page news in her hometown of Gary, including a scandal where it was found that several prison guards had sex with her in her cell, and pregnancy tests were performed, which came back negative. Ĭooper's case was profiled on 60 Minutes and various European television programs. A separate appeal to the United Nations received one million signatures. Pope John Paul II made a personal appeal to Indiana Governor Robert Orr in September 1987. Her case was taken up by attorney Monica Foster, who organized a campaign which presented an appeal signed by two million people to the Indiana Supreme Court. Ĭooper was sent to Death Row at Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis.

Cooper was found guilty, and Judge James Kimbrough imposed the death penalty. The defense stated that Cooper's mother had once attempted to kill her. The defense presented evidence that Cooper was a chronic runaway who had been physically abused and forced to watch the rape of her mother and violent assaults by her father.

At sentencing, Lake County prosecutor James McNew portrayed Cooper as a social misfit with no hope of rehabilitation and asked for the death penalty. Sentencing and fallout Ĭooper's public defender advised her to plead guilty. There, it was reported that she bragged about her crime and had said she would do it again. According to authorities, Cooper attacked guards in the juvenile center after her arrest and had to be moved to the County Jail.

She was considered to be the ringleader of the group of girls, aged 14 to 16, who were all given sentences of 25 to 60 years for their roles in the crime. However, there was little question of her guilt in the case. She had a prior record as a runaway and for burglary. Ĭooper's lawyers described her as a victim of sexual abuse who had attended ten different schools by the time of the murder.

Cooper and her friends then searched the house for jewelry, and stole ten dollars and the keys to Pelke's 1976 Plymouth. Cooper stabbed Pelke 33 times in the chest and stomach with a foot-long (30 cm) butcher knife. One of the girls struck Pelke with a vase, and cut her arms and legs. According to police, Cooper skipped school with three friends (Denise Thomas, aged 14 Karen Corder, aged 16 and April Beverly, aged 15), drank alcohol, and smoked marijuana before visiting Pelke, a neighbor, ostensibly to ask about Bible lessons.

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