Witness murder outside Alabama courthouse could have ‘chilling’ effect
Montgomery AL October 27 2017 The brazen shooting death of a man gunned down outside of a Montgomery courthouse minutes after he testified against a violent crime suspect stunned many in the law enforcement community.
The death of 31-year-old Kelvin Cooley not only was a senseless crime, they said, but one that could have ramifications on securing willing witnesses in the future.
“It alarmed a lot of people across the state that that was going on in Montgomery,” said Michael Jackson, district attorney for the Alabama’s 4th Judicial Circuit. “It’s hard enough getting witnesses to come forward. This will have a chilling effect. There’s no question.”
Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper agreed. “As this story spreads, the effect on witness intimidation cannot be overstated,” he said. “It’s very concerning for all of us who work in public safety.”
The shooting happened at 4:33 p.m. Monday in the 300 block of Lawrence Street, just outside the Montgomery County Courthouse. According to court records, Kelvin Cooley was in his vehicle when someone opened fire on him, striking him in the right side of his abdomen. Montgomery police said after he was shot, Kelvin Cooley got out of his vehicle and returned fire at the suspect vehicle. “Further investigating indicates that the shooting stemmed from a possible ongoing dispute that may have escalated during a current trial,” according to a MPD press release.
Kelvin Cooley was pronounced dead at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday at Baptist Medical South.
It was the latest act of violence in a series of disputes between the Cooley and Boone families that goes back at least four years, court records show, in a feud that ultimately left one person from each family paralyzed by gunfire and now Kelvin Cooley dead.
On March 29, 2014, according to court records, Jacquees Boone, now 27, shot Alondre Cooley, who is Kevin Cooley’s brother. In that case, police say Alondre Cooley was walking down the street when Jacquees Boone drove up next to him in a vehicle and fired, striking Cooley in the face and leaving him paralyzed. Alondre Cooley had no criminal record, but authorities have said he was targeted because of some of his family members.
Just two days after that shooting, records show, Kelvin Cooley shot Jacquees Boone — apparently in retaliation for his brother’s shooting. Records show Kelvin Cooley fired into a 2004 Ford, striking Jacquees Boone in the back. As a result, Jacquees Boone was also paralyzed.
The witness of an attempted murder and assault trial died Tuesday after being shot outside of the courthouse on Monday.
Jacquees Boone was convicted of attempted murder in February 2015 and sentenced to life in prison under the state’s habitual offender laws, but the Alabama Supreme Court in 2016 reversed the court’s judgement and the defendant’s new trial began this week.
The following month – in March 2015 – Kelvin Cooley pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in the wounding of Jacquees Boone. He was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison with two years to serve followed by probation. Just last month, his probation was extended for another year, though the reason was not immediately clear.
Kelvin Cooley was one of multiple witnesses scheduled to testify against Jacquees Boone this week. Also subpoenaed to testify was a third Cooley brother – Marcus Cooley – but he was killed in August in an unrelated shooting.
Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey said following Kelvin Cooley’s testimony, two armed investigators walked Kelvin Cooley to his car parked outside the courthouse. Cooley got into his vehicle, pulled off and moments later the gunfire erupted. “The investigators actually witnessed it,” Bailey said. “As we have learned in the city and throughout the country, there are people who just don’t care. It’s pure evil, and it’s everywhere.”
Not long after the shooting, Montgomery police officers took 25-year-old Josephus Boone into custody on Ann Street. Josephus Boone is the brother of Jacquees Boone. He is charged with capital murder, and is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Facility.
On Tuesday, a Montgomery judge declared a mistrial in the case against Jacquees Boone after some of the jurors said they were scared and didn’t sleep well, according to published reports. The judge also ordered Jacquees jailed without bond until further notice.
“I was shocked,” Bailey said Wednesday of the killing. “I had a big range of emotions, from shock to frankly being pissed off that someone would come to a courthouse and do that.”
Bailey said it’s the first time he can recall that a witness has been murdered in the Montgomery area. “I’m stressing that this was an isolated incident,” the district attorney said.
Still, the history between the families and the criminal pasts of some of those involved – including Kelvin Cooley – doesn’t justify the violence or lessen the tragedy. “You’ve still lost something. A family still lost someone they loved,” he said. “As you can imagine, they’re upset and they’re traumatized.”
“This is really a nationwide problem where violence has become commonplace,” Bailey said. “It affects us all when there is a violent crime.”
“Right now, I’m just angry,” he said. “I want to prevent this from happening again.”
Bailey said they will reevaluate their security plan for similar situations, but reiterated that precautions were already in place. “It’s not like we just sent him out there alone. We had armed security guards that walked him out,” he said. “I don’t what else we could have done. We did offer transportation, but he wanted to drive his own car like most people do. The bottom line is if someone wants me or you dead, they will find a way to do it.”
Bailey said they’ve already discussed additional strategies, but said he can’t release specifics for obvious security reasons. “This is going to change the way we handle business. We’re going to evaluate what went wrong,” he said. “When you have a tragic incident like this happen, like what we just saw in Las Vegas, you learn from it.”
The district attorney said there is concern that the high profile killing of Kelvin Cooley – which made national news – could affect witness testimony in future cases. The capital murder case against Josephus Boone is being handled by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.
“Killing a witness is very, very serious, almost to the level of killing a police officer,” Bailey said. “I think once the case is prosecuted, people will see there are consequences.”
Janette Grantham, the state director of Victims of Crime against Leniency (VOCAL) said she was horrified by Monday’s shooting. Her group is a support system for victims and their families during the judicial process, and VOCAL representatives often accompany the families to court. They had been working with Alondre Cooley’s family and said the entire ordeal left her staff shaken.
“The way they were shooting, they could have hit anyone,” she said. “I’m now wondering if I put my staff in danger.”
She, too, wonders about the impact on future cases. “It gives somebody an idea, that’s the bad thing,” she said. “It’s going to be very difficult.”
Witness reluctance is nothing new in the judicial system. “It’s extremely difficult to get witnesses to come forward in some communities. Quite often, there’s a fear of retaliation or a decision is made to handle the issue in the street and not trust the criminal justice system which leads to more retaliatory responses,” Roper said. “A secondary issue is the length of time before a case goes to trial which affords more opportunities for witnesses to receive threats or just change their mind about getting involved.”
Barry Matson, director of the Alabama District Attorneys Association, said today’s society emphasizes the “snitches get stitches” culture. Even Wednesday, a comment under a photo of Kelvin Cooley’s photo on social media read “snitch.”
“There are unsolved homicides across Alabama because witnesses and other people will not come forward,” Matson said. “There are folks I know committed murder but a gut feeling is just a stomach ache, not evidence.”
In Birmingham alone, there are multiple examples of the unfortunate role witness reluctance or witness intimidation can play in the justice system.
In July, a murder charge against a 20-year-old was dismissed due to the lack of witnesses who would agree to help prosecutors during the trial. In April 2016, a murder charge was dismissed after witnesses did not – for the second time in one year – show up for trial in a 2014 triple shooting that left a woman dead. In a 2014 trial in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy in Railroad Park, a key witness for the prosecution recanted his statements incriminating the suspect and another witness in the same trial claimed he had been threatened by the suspect’s family.
The list goes on, and so does the frustration for those charged with delivering justice.
“I’ve always told people one of the hardest parts is getting people to come to court to testify, especially in violent crimes,” said Jefferson County Interim District Attorney Danny Carr. “It’s frustrating to everyone involved – prosecutors, family members and law enforcement – that these guys are able to undermine the system and skirt justice by threatening witnesses.”
Still, authorities say, the death of a witness is beyond uncommon. “Although there’s all kinds of street stories and urban legends, this type of crime is actually rare, although I must add the perception can be real and still have the same effect,” Roper said. “It takes a special kind of brazenness to shoot a witness in the courthouse parking lot right after he testifies. That bullet is the shot heard around the world that says, ‘we can reach you whenever and wherever.”’
Carr agrees. “This is not the norm,” he said. “In 15 years, I can honestly say I haven’t seen anything close to something like this. There could be repercussions, witnesses wondering, ‘Could that be me?”’
Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey called the murder in Montgomery horrific. “Sadly, some cases cannot be made because witnesses are afraid for their safety if they tell the truth,” she said. “It is heartbreaking to know that some victims may never get justice because prosecutors can’t secure the necessary testimony to convict. What will our justice system be if witnesses fear being followed to their car and gunned down? This will also start fading to juries, who will be afraid for their safety in some cases, if they return a guilty verdict.”
Matson, a former chief deputy district attorney in Talladega County, said he once had a witness killed. He was prosecuting a case of a man who was burned alive, and although there were plenty of possible witnesses, only one woman came forward to help and police had her wear a wire. “The witness that helped put that together was killed afterward and her death remains an unsolved homicide,” he said. “The immediate reaction is that it’s shocking to the conscience.”
He said because witness murder is so rare, it would be a shame if it prevents witnesses from coming forward to provide what he believes is everyone’s “civic rent.” “It will be harder to get justice for homicide victims,” he said, “as if it wasn’t hard enough already.”
AL.com
