Judge Cooper Shows Prosecutor Spaniola is Soft on Crime

[XLFD]

With only two months before the primaries for deciding who will be the 51st Circuit Court Judge, an interesting happening occurred at the courthouse.  Current Judge Richard E. Cooper, who is forced to retire his judgeship due to age restrictions set by law for judges, had a rare divergence of opinion from the prosecutor he has been on the same page with over the last six years. 

 

Prosecutor Paul Spaniola, one of the four candidates for the office, had arranged a plea deal with local attorney Ryan Glanville who was representing a three-time DWI defendant.  Beyond a treatment program, the agreement had the defendant sitting in jail for a month.  Judge Cooper would have none of that, reciting the history of the court in similar circumstances being generally more severe for felony DWI. 

 

So overriding the prosecutor-brokered deal, he rejected it.  The timing of such a rejected deal is most interesting since one of the contestants for the 51st Circuit Court is Judge Richard Cooper's own son, Lake County Prosecutor Craig R. Cooper (the 'R' is for Richard).  According to Spaniola (after the hearing), he admitted it was the first time in several years that such a deal was rejected by the court.  "Ultimately, it is the judge's decision.", he was heard as saying.

 

  

He went on to justify why he had sought the original deal and added:  "That shows a lot of consistency in our case dispositions and also that the separation of powers exists in local government.  Reasonable minds can differ from time to time." 

 

I think it is most interesting that the 'time' it occurs is within two months of a primary where the judge's son, his legacy, and one that both have shown a long-term appearance of impropriety in the past with in a local court action, must be thanking his dad for.  The younger Cooper ran for his job on a tough on crime and criminals platform, and this is a perfect example for him to show he is more likely to keep the criminal drunk drivers off the road for longer than his other prosecuting opponent.  Spaniola tries to negate the insinuation by saying that he is more in lock-step than this decision indicates, but he has just been faceplanted by the Coopers.

 

The story as it appeared in this Wednesday's City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews).  "Cooper" is cut off from the top headline to fit the scanner:

 

[AQUAMAN]

Yup, dirty filthy Cooper politics at it's best again. Spaniola seems to be taking it like a man though, which I praise him for. Since there was 13 years since the last offense, I think Coop is taking this too far, esp. since the accident was with a snow bank, c'mon now! Media hype move, and the LDN playing right along, as expected.  

[XLFD]

Spaniola is savvy enough to see that if he takes any other tact, he would likely live to regret it, particularly if Craig Cooper wins the seat.  If Spaniola loses, he is still going to be the county prosecutor.

Likewise, as a candidate for judicial office, he has to be more careful in exhibiting a judicial temperament.  If he wasn't in the mix, his reaction to this may have been more strident with this lame-duck judge.

[AQUAMAN]

More like lame-snake judge, one whose fangs are being removed permanently, but still showing his poison to the bitter end. 

[Willy]

If Cooper's son brings this up in his bid for judge then we will know that this was a rigged decision by judge Cooper. It will be intresting to see if any of the candidates will use this situation.

[XLFD]

 Senior Cooper does it again.  Prosecutor Spaniola and the attorney for Eric Knysz's mother reached a plea deal to have her spend a year in jail for her part as an accessory after the fact in the MSP Trooper Paul Butterfield shooting incident.  But Judge Richard Cooper once again takes the opportunity to show he will have nothing of leniency in such a deal, for a crime whose guidelines show 7-23 months in prison, and is thus within the realm.  Spaniola is once again shown up by Judge Cooper for what appears to be solely political points.

Thank daddy once again for all the help in getting the judgeship you deserve, Craig Cooper.  You and pops are truly the toughest on crime-- and justice and mercy.

[XLFD]

 If you read the updated link above, you will note that Judge Cooper decided on 18-60 months in prison, rather than 12 months in jail.  Tammi Lynn Spofford effectively drove her former husband's truck back to her house, and did not rat her son out. 

If you recall Eric Knysz had a checkered past before his murder of Trooper Butterfield.  He appeared before Judge Cooper's court, the 51st Circuit, four times for some serious felonies and misdemeanors (armed burglary, assault, see all here) , and was sentenced to about a 1000 days and served about a month in jail-- he should have been serving time during the day Butterfield was shot.  But Judge Wickens, Lake County's 51sr Circuit judge, and their prosecutor/assistant prosecutor Craig Cooper had a soft spot in their heads for this son of a cop. 

So now our venerable judge Richard Cooper throws Knysz's grieving mother in prison for up to twice Knysz's former maximum sentencing for driving a truck home.  Judge Cooper, your warped-justice circuit court is a lot more to blame for the deaths of Paul Butterfield, Eric Knysz, and even Paul Butterfield's father than Ms. Spofford is.  How lame and useful to society is it to sentence both women (Spofford and Sarah Knysz) who had no part in the shooting, and no useful assistance after the fact for up to five years in prison each? 

[Lance Hendrickson]

Looka here: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2014/06/report_trooper...

Hey, Paul?  Used to be, a deal was a deal.  But from now on, you've gotta remember who you're dealing with, sir.  

The people of the 51st Circuit will be very, very lucky if Spofford doesn't withdraw the plea, go to trial, move for a change of judge, move for a change of venue, run the taxpayers' bill on this whole thing way, way up -- and, possibly now that Knysz is dead -- maybe even get off scot-free.

[AQUAMAN]

I thank you for that link Lance, and welcome aboard the Torch. I think this woman has been through enough to this point. And I also think her next move, if she is smart, is to do exactly what you said. It's obviously a political move to again make Spaniola look bad, cheap shot if I ever saw one. 

[XLFD]

Lance, welcome to the Ludington Torch.  I like your analysis on the mlive site, and on here.  Craig Cooper had the audacity to come forward and serve the City of Ludington as their attorney for four months when we took the City to court for a serious FOIA violation, before Judge Richard Cooper admitted his son had been doing so for all that time.  Shameful all around.

If you believe everyone who is charged with a crime is guilty and should be punished to the max, Judge Cooper is your man.  If you believe in justice, he's a disgrace.  Yet, I've never lost in his court with him as a judge deciding on my FOIA and Open Meeting Act issues with our corrupt City of Ludington and against Paul Spaniola.  It hasn't been his fault, however.