Opinion ID: 2010460
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Cooke Testifies.

Text: Proceedings continued in the courtroom that afternoon. When the jury was brought in, Cooke was seated as planned, with his legs shackled but hidden from the jury's view. The trial judge said: The next witness will be the defendant, Mr. Cooke. The trial judge then administered the oath to Cooke and said: All right. Mr. Cooke, you may proceed to testify, sir. The very first thing Cooke told the jury was that he did not agree with his attorneys' decision to pursue a guilty but mentally ill verdict and that he was not guilty and was not mentally ill. He said: First of all, I'd like to say I never picked this mentally ill defense. That was my public defenders' idea. Never chose it. Always argued about it. Cooke said he had consistently told his attorneys and the doctors that I didn't do anything.... I didn't kill this person, but that his attorneys seemed not to care what he said. The trial judge interrupted Cooke to remind him that he could not testify about that disagreement and told him to move on to another subject. Cooke proceeded to talk about his meetings with six different doctors who tried to use psychology on me but had already pre-judged him and formed the belief that he was guilty because his attorneys had told them so. So that's why you heard what they said, explained Cooke, referring to the experts' testimony. Then he said: So as the outbursts, as you heard me say, `I'm not guilty. I never took this mentally ill defense.' You seen his presentation [referring to his counsel]. His presentation was `Mr. Cooke is guilty but he's mentally ill.'... So he had misrepresented me and I'm quite sure you seen that as well. He know I didn't do this. Cooke also testified about his frustration with the trial judge. He stated that he told the trial judge about his dispute with his attorneys, but the trial judge did not listen because he also believed Cooke was guilty. Cooke said to the trial judge, And now you expect me to hold my tongue back... you expect me to abide by your rules. Like I'm supposed to fear you. The only person I fear is God. And if I die, like I said, I die for the truth. This woman wasn't who ... they say she was. Cooke then said to the jury: [T]hey use the mentally ill defense to railroad me. They want to make you believe that I'm crazy. He also stated, I been got rid of these public defenders. I fired them a long time ago. The judge allowed me to keep them. Cooke said that he was being set up because I had sex with the young woman. Later in his testimony, Cooke stated: I'm not mentally ill. They know I'm not mentally ill. I'm quite sure the prosecutor know I'm not mentally ill. And the judge even know I'm not mentally ill.... They never wanted to fight the case, period. My own public defender told me when I first met him, he says, `I'm not here to say you innocent, I'm only here to get the death penalty off you.' When Cooke began to talk about one of the jurors who Cooke believed had been involved in the crime, the prosecution objected and the trial judge asked the jury to be taken out of the courtroom. The trial judge reminded Cooke that he could not talk about the jurors and brought the jury back in. When Cooke started to talk about Bonistall, the prosecution objected again and the trial judge ordered the jury taken out again. The trial judge warned Cooke that he could not talk about Bonistall in front of the jury. Cooke seemed to argue that the jury had a right to know that he believed he had consensual sex with Bonistall. He said: My public defenders even knew this and they never even spoke this up. Isn't that something? It's like I'm my own counselor. The jury was brought back in and Cooke moved on to another, permissible topic for a while. When Cooke began to talk about a marijuana pipe that he believed was found in Bonistall's apartment and said that her roommate smoked marijuana, the trial judge ordered the jury out again. When the jury was brought back in, Cooke said, among other things, How can a man prove he's innocent if his public defender's not doing it? How? I mean, they actually want me to sit here and just take everything, you know. During his testimony, Cooke also told the jury that his legs were shackled under the table. When Cooke concluded his testimony, he was cross-examined. When the prosecution concluded its cross-examination, the trial judge gave Cooke an opportunity for re-direct: Mr. Cooke, if there's anything you wish to say in connection with the questions [the prosecutor] has asked you, now is your opportunity, sir. Cooke responded that he had nothing else to say because I never done this, period. When Cooke and the jury were excused and left the courtroom, the trial judge ruled: It is my finding that based on the defendant's conduct this afternoon, he persists in conduct [that is] contumacious, disruptive, disrespectful and all other appropriate adjectives to a degree where he has waived his presence in this proceeding until some possible future point, which might be closing or the return of a verdict. I'm going to ask defense counsel to check with him each day to [affirmatively ask him] whether he wishes to return. And if he expresses that he wishes to do so, advise me and we'll evaluate that.