Wednesday, January 20, 1999
Man gets 13 years for killing brother
Defense cites mental problems
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Daniel and Kenneth Cooney had as much in common as many pairs of brothers.
Friends and family say they lived together, went to the grocery store together and, when times were bad, suffered together from serious emotional problems.
It was that last similarity, they say, that left one brother dead and the other in jail for shooting him.
The case ended Tuesday when Daniel Cooney, 38, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Patrick Dinkelacker promptly sentenced Mr. Cooney to 13 years in prison.
“This is a tragedy of exponential proportions,” said Mr. Cooney's attorney, David Scacchetti. “There's a long history of mental problems, which probably led to this event.”
Police have said Mr. Cooney shot his 45-year-old brother Aug. 9 as he slept on a couch in their Delhi Township home.
After firing three shots into his brother's head, prosecutors say, Mr. Cooney called 911 and tried to act as if he were shocked to find his brother's body on the couch.
In his 911 call, a weeping Mr. Cooney told a dispatcher that his brother had shot himself in the head and that he had attempted to revive him by “trying to blow through his lips.”
“I was in the shower,” he told the dispatcher. “I heard (the shots).... He's on the couch, and I can't feel no pulse ... I can't feel nothing. I don't know if he shot himself a couple of times or what.”
Before the sentencing, Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Reif told the judge he had no sympathy for Mr. Cooney.
“I don't know if we'll ever know why it happened,” he said. “But he did this in a calculating way. There just isn't any justification for what he did.”
Mr. Cooney's brother-in-law, Ken Wallace, told the judge he was aware of the brothers' problems but shocked by the shooting.
“I have a hard time believing it,” he said. “They did everything together.”
After the hearing, Mr. Scacchetti said both brothers had a history of physical and emotional problems.
“It's torn the family apart,” he said. “They really don't know why this happened.”
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