Thursday, February 03, 2000
Jury gets brothers' case
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Randall and Terry Cope showed no expression Wednesday as a federal prosecutor told a panel of U.S. District Court jurors why the brothers should be found guilty of murder-for-hire in an alleged plot targeting their former lovers and two others.
“You will never have a simpler case, and you will never have a case where the proof is so overwhelming,” Assistant U.S. Attorney E.J. Walbourn said in his closing argument. “This is about the callous disregard of human lives.”
Attorneys for the Copes countered that jurors could find the brothers guilty of hiring someone to kill the four only if evidence was beyond a reasonable doubt.
“You might think they probably did it, (but) it's not enough,” said Steve Howe, representing one of the Copes. “You might not like these guys. You might have this terrible taste in your mouth. But you're here to do what's right, and there is reasonable doubt.”
Jurors will begin deliberations this morning. The Copes — Randall, 41, a former businessman from Benton, and Terry, 43, a former Northwest Airlines pilot from Hendersonville, Tenn. — face charges including conspiracy, murder for hire, retaliation against a witness and intimidating Ryle High School teacher Sarah K. Jackson by shooting at her.
Federal prosecutors allege that they ultimately hired someone they thought was a contract killer to murder Ms. Jackson; David Bunning, the son of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning and a federal prosecutor handling an Internet harassment case involving Randall Cope; and Elizabeth and Ronald Nimmo, Terry Cope's ex-wife and her husband.
In his closing argument, Mr. Walbourn said the Copes wanted these people dead because they thought that would extinguish all of their problems. They targeted Ms. Jackson in “pure retaliation” for her testimony against Randall Cope in an e-mail case.
He is also accused of sending letters that urged his brother to hire a contract killer.
Defense attorneys Mr. Howe and Harry Hellings said that they would never deny Terry Cope went to a store parking lot intending to hire someone to kill Ms. Jackson. But they said the evidence wasn't enough to convict him of actually following through with that intent.
They also disagreed that there was enough proof to say undoubtedly that the Copes had targeted Mr. Bunning.
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