Opinion ID: 2010460
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pre-trial conferences indicate a rift between Cooke and trial counsel.

Text: Defense counsel first informed the trial judge that Cooke did not agree with their decision to seek a guilty but mentally ill verdict during an office conference to discuss jury selection and scheduling matters on January 19, 2007. At the end of the conference, when they finished discussing jury selection and scheduling matters, the trial judge asked whether the State or defense had any other issues they wished to raise. Defense counsel answered in the affirmative and explained that Cooke did not agree with their decision about how to best defend the case. Defense counsel wanted to assert that Cooke was guilty but mentally ill, while Cooke wished to maintain his factual innocence and did not want his counsel to present evidence that he was mentally ill. Defense counsel explained the issue as follows: Well, there's probably something we should bring up and Mr. Cooke and co-counsel and I have talked about it at length.    It may come to a head, it may not. Mr. Cooke has one idea about how to defend this case; his counsel has a different idea. And in counsel's view, Mr. Cooke's intended course of defense has little chance for success and will likely increase his chances for conviction and likely a death sentence. We have talked at length, counsel and Mr. Cooke, and to date we have essentially agreed to disagree; and I have written him at length and explained to him that in counsel's view, based on the case law in Delaware, it is his lawyer's discretion whether to present a particular defensewell, I should start again. I have explained, and I'll submit at some point what I haveor at least a summary of what I have written to Mr. Cooke explaining that if the decision is the purpose of the litigation then the decision rests with Mr. Cooke about what to do. However, if the decision pertains to trial tactics and strategy, it is his counsel's decision what to do. That's with respect to the first phase of the case. Assuming we're facing then the second phase of a case, a penalty phase, I have written to Mr. Cooke and given him my opinion that based on the Ashley opinion of Judge Carpenter that the presentation of a mitigation case is in the discretion of trial counsel. Although there have been circumstances where defendant's decision to waive mitigation evidence has been accepted.    [Co-counsel] and I have the view that we can't present a claim of guilty but mentally ill without having to renounce innocence; that Mr. Cooke can maintain his innocence, as he may do if he chooses to testify, yet we will be able to present, on his behalf, a claim of guilty but mentally ill. And so there is going to be, I think, at some point probably before we begin the evidence and make opening statements where we are going to need to go on the record and hash this out on the record, and go forward from there.    So that's where we are right now with respect to Mr. Cooke and what's likely to be forthcoming. Although this was the first time the trial judge learned about the disagreement between Cooke and his counsel, it is evident from the transcript that the State was aware of the disagreement prior to the conference. First, earlier in the conference, the State argued to the trial judge that if the defense was to decide prior to opening arguments that it intended to seek a guilty but mentally ill verdict, then the defense must inform the State pre-trial so that the State could draft its opening arguments accordingly. Defense counsel declined to comment at that time. [4] Second, after defense counsel told the trial judge about the disagreement, the prosecutor stated that he was grateful that defense counsel had raised the issue and explained that he had already discussed the issue with the State's Appellate Division. The prosecutor summarized the issue as follows: [I]f the defendant maintains his factual innocence, can counsel, nonetheless, argue that he is guilty of the charged offense but mentally ill? The trial judge shared his concern by stating: I don't know how you can argue something that has the word `guilty' in it when the defendant doesn't want you to, because it's guilty as charged, not guilty of the lesser-included offense. It is also apparent from the transcript that Cooke had disclosed his disagreement with counsel during his interviews with psychiatrists. During an interview with Dr. Alvin Turner, a psychologist who later testified for the defense, Cooke admitted and also denied, the crimes, but repeatedly stated that he did not agree with the mental illness evidence his counsel wanted to present at trial because he was not guilty and not mentally ill. The prosecutor, who had read the doctors' reports produced during discovery, explained to the trial judge that, according to Dr. Turner's report, the defendant admitted murdering Ms. Bonistall and then denied it. What he told Dr. Mechanick is that he never told Dr. Turner he killed Lindsey Bonistall . . . but this mentally ill stuff is all garbage and he's sane. Defense counsel knew that Cooke wanted to maintain his factual innocence. Defense counsel explained that they believed that Cooke was certainly entitled under the law to testify in any way he deems appropriate and that Cooke would likely testify that he had consensual sex with Lindsey Bonistall, he left and after that she must have been murdered by somebody else. I know nothing about it. But, defense counsel also explained they felt that they could not in good faith make the same argument. In their view, that does not preclude counsel from pursuing a claim of guilty but mentally ill. Finally, defense counsel explained that they were bringing up the issue at the pre-trial conference because they thought that the trial judge needed to engage in a colloquy with Cooke and address the disagreement on the record prior to trial. Defense counsel was concerned that failure to address the disagreement prior to trial might result in some kind of disastrous happening during trial, such as an outburst by Cooke. [5] The disagreement between Cooke and his counsel was brought to the trial judge's attention for a second time on January 22, 2007, during an office conference the day before jury selection was to begin. Defense counsel gave the trial judge and the State a copy of a memorandum that they had given to Cooke in October 2006. The memorandum discussed the disagreement between Cooke and his counsel and whether his counsel could present evidence to support a guilty but mentally ill verdict despite Cooke's objection. [6] The trial judge had not yet researched the issue, but noted that the law was not clear on how to resolve the disagreement. He also noted that the unsettled state of the law was probably the reason why defense counsel had asked him to engage in a colloquy with Cooke before the trial began. Defense counsel said they believed that Cooke had a mental illness and that his decision to waive a defense of mental illness should be very carefully scrutinized. The prosecutor pointed out that all of the psychiatric/psychological experts had determined that Cooke was competent to stand trial, meaning that he could make legal decisions. The prosecutor explained that if defense counsel decided to introduce evidence to support a guilty but mentally ill verdict, despite Cooke's objections, then defense counsel would be suggesting to the jury that Cooke's preferred defense of innocence was not valid. The prosecutor said that it would get particularly knotty, I suppose, if the defendant were to testify and say, `I did not kill Lindsey Bonistall,' and defense were to then present psychiatric or psychological testimony from Dr. Turner, which, among other things, includes the defendant's admission that he did kill Lindsey Bonistall. These exchanges in the record demonstrate that the trial judge was made aware that Cooke wanted to maintain his innocence but that his counsel, not the State, was considering admitting evidence that Cooke confessed to the crime. The trial judge concluded that he would probably hold a colloquy with Cooke after the jury was selected and before the start of evidence. The State requested that the trial judge hold the colloquy before opening statements. The trial judge did not make a decision about when exactly he would hold the colloquy.