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| Authorities: DNA Tests Tie Calif. Inmate to Murders |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/07/2002 |
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A death-row inmate who has vehemently denied killing four people nearly 20 years ago - and who sought DNA testing to prove his innocence - has been linked to the crimes by those tests, authorities said Thursday. Kevin Cooper, 44, was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to death for the murders of Douglas and Perry Ryen, both 41, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and her 11-year-old friend, Christopher Hughes. The victims were stabbed and hacked repeatedly with a hatchet and buck knife. The Ryen's 8-year-old son, Joshua, had his throat slit but survived. The June 4, 1983, killings in Chino Hills occurred three days after Cooper escaped from the nearby California Institution for Men, where he had been serving a burglary sentence. Authorities say Cooper was the first death-row inmate in California to request DNA testing under a state law that took effect last year. The state Department of Justice laboratory tested several pieces of evidence, including a drop of blood found outside the bedroom where Doug and Peggy Ryen died; two cigarette butts found in the Ryens' station wagon, which was believed to have been the killer's getaway vehicle; and a bloodstained T-shirt found outside a bar. 'The results of this testing established a match between Kevin Cooper's DNA and that found on the evidence from the murder scene,' said state Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Cooper's attorneys said they will argue that some of the evidence was tampered with. 'He still says it's not him and he's innocent,' said attorney Robert Amidon. A jury convicted Cooper in 1983. The California Supreme Court, in upholding his conviction, called the evidence against him 'overwhelming.' |
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