State v. Bradley Cooper 3-29-11

[TigerBalm]

The bench notes of an SBI agent.

 

[gracielee]

The detective seems just as professional to me as he has the past few days. I don't see Kurtz as being as professional. He seems to be trying to intentionally mislead.

Which is how I'd been advised in the past to answer questions *because* I was told 'it would be tried to mislead, confuse, get me upset, etc.' I was always told to answer as honestly but keep my answers very short, don't elaborate, don't use too many words giving the opportunity to take my words out of context, etc. I think he's doing the best he can keeping those things in mind. JMO

 

[TigerBalm]

The judge is not going to allow the defense to cross Det Young on 18,000 pages of documents in this case.

Det. Young has no knowledge of the bench notes of the SBI Agent Ivy McMillan.

 

[mlc2005]

This sudden memory lapse by Det. Young is very interesting. How many pages is he going to flip through "looking for answers" when he recalled so many other details so clearly?

I totally agree. It's interesting how he didn't have to look down to remember anything when the prosecution asked him questions, but now it's like he has no recollection of anything that happened between July 12-14th. He sure looks to be impartial.

 

[mlc2005]

With what has been put forth so far, does anyone have any guesses as to what the actual EVIDENCE in this case might be?

-We know about the dress and the color issues (Wow, a man mistakes green for blue)!
-The marriage problems
-Phones and calls
-The tarp
-The shoes (his are possibly missing, and hers are possibly not a true pair)

What would the prosecution need to show in order to truly have a case, and what are they actually able to show. Part of me feels that they really don't have any smoking gun, because normally when there is a smoking gun in a trial with this kind of publicity, the media leaks it ahead of time, and there's nothing from what I have read.

 

[babelphissh]

ullhair:ullhair:

I'm going to say a prayer for Det. JY for his cross examination. I think he's done a fantastic job thus far and I pray that the good Lord will keep him in his care during what is surely to be a bash fest from the defense - as if Det. JY is the one who is on trial for a crime instead of simply doing a job he is grossly underpaid to do.

Yep.. it should be a discredit the Det. fest.... a la, if da glove don't fit :loser:

 

[cityslick]

ullhair:ullhair:

Yep.. it should be a discredit the Det. fest.... a la, if da glove don't fit :loser:

As an OT, one of the funnier moments in that trial was when defense asks when they planned to do a certain test (they were supposed to do it) and the ME says 'I don't know, now?'. Next the camera pans to Marcia Clark who looks like she wants to go crawl in a cave.

 

[RTPEngineer]

Maybe I should start a separate thread, but not sure, so just putting inline here.

My profile: this is my first post and first trial watching on WS. Married 20 years (happily). Wife is stay at-home-mom for two school-age daughters. Live in Apex. Work at a tech company in RTP.

My interest in the NC trial: Hoping our justice and legal system isn’t making (another) big mistake. Hoping an innocent man’s life isn’t ruined. I don’t know the families, the neighbors, nor any of the friends/colleagues. However, watching the process of this trial unfolding in our county/state, I am currently disheartened by the LE (for an apparent lack of evidence), the media (for always reporting the biased angle), and even a lot of my friends and family (for rushing to pass judgment on BC without knowing the facts).

My current position: I hope he did it. That is the only way this has a logical ending. However, I’m having a hard time believing that is what will happen. From following WS for about a week now (and not getting much real work done! :sigh: ), and trying to read up on some of the past threads, I am currently on the not-guilty side, and leaning toward actual innocence at this point. However, I could easily be swayed with just one piece of solid evidence.

So here is the reason for my post. There seems to be some rather dedicated sleuths out here, however, most of you are looking at all the “evidence” and testimony with the ‘he did it’ mindset. Fair enough, you are entitled to your opinion, and I’m not necessarily trying to change your opinion. What I want to ask, is to suspend everyone’s reality for a short time, and just pretend he didn’t do it? Let’s get everyone’s brainpower focused on trying to find a different course of events that day. Let’s assume (I know this is a stretch for most of you :winko: no offense intended, just a joke), but can we assume that Brad isn’t lying about anything, and that there is some other explanation for what happened to NC that day? Maybe all of you have gone through this exercise in the past, but I just don’t understand how so many people here can be so convinced that he did it. I don’t watch the trial, and actually, have never seen footage of BC talking, so I don’t have the ‘emotional’ reaction to whether he is a good guy, bad guy, whatever. But from what I read, this guy seems not much different from a lot of people I work with, and to a point, myself included…except for the ‘maybe he killed his wife’ part. I get that he is quiet and reserved (as a lot of engineers are); I get that he is messy around the house/yard; I get that he has a clean car that he uses for work; I can see how being in a troubled marriage can shut you down and seem emotionless ; I can see how I would take my children’s passports if my spouse was threatening/planning to leave the country with them; I can see withholding an allowance if my spouse is making her own money (I know I’ll take some heat for this one, so let me explain…this isn’t like a child’s allowance, this is more like a family budget. If my child makes extra money, good for her, she still gets her allowance. But my wife…if she earns money, it goes into the pot like my income does…it doesn’t change the cash outflow…the budget is still $300. Not sure how much she was getting paid for painting…if less than the $300, then she was due some money; if more than $300, then she was obligated to contribute to the other family expenses…IMO); I can certainly understand a man not having a clue what his wife wore last night…….as others on this board, and me without the emotional attachment/detachment of seeing live footage/live responses/facial expressions of those involved, I have been able to reasonably justify most of what Brad did during those days. I have not perceived him as a controlling husband (in terms of the passports and allowance), nor a bad person. I cannot condone his affair, but have not been in a situation of living in separate bedrooms, middle of a divorce…perhaps affairs were tolerable/agreed upon in this marriage.

Ok, (I know, long post, sorry)…so if I am Brad, and I’m telling the truth (in my alternate reality here)…you all know the story – come home early from party, put kids to bed, NC comes home around midnight, wake up at ~4:15 (or whatever) to take care of daughter, go to store twice during the 6:00 hour. No funny stuff with the phones…just normal usage, checking VM, surfing the web, wife calling me, etc. Come home with HT items. NC tells me she’s going jogging that morning…maybe she is, maybe she isn’t – I don’t really care anyway. Few hours go by, I’m pretty upset she didn’t come home to watch the kids, and now people are questioning where she’s at. I have no idea. Better start helping to look. Cops are getting involved. This is where I can’t continue thinking like BC. I’ve never been in a failed marriage, and my wife has never gone missing, but I can believe he is freaking out about now, and probably not acting like himself…can’t think straight, total brain shutdown or maybe brain overdrive, complete panic once he realizes that something terrible may have happened and that he may be the primary suspect. He knows the odds that everyone assumes it is the husband, he knows NC has been trashing him to all their neighbors, he knows they will find out about the divorce papers. From what I can tell, he cooperated pretty good in his situation…I’m sure he could tell LE had a negative attitude towards him. He was in a very difficult situation. So, again, if you consider he is telling the truth, how would you act at this point? I am sure I would struggle to remember every minute detail of the past several days. I’m sure that kind of interrogation is extremely stressful, and I would be upset that LE is not believing me.

I should go back and listen to the defense opening statements. What theories did they share? I’d really like everyone’s opinion on what else may have happened, and if you think any of the defense theories could be possible/accurate. Can we all seriously, not snarky, try to theorize other possibilities? Who are the alternatives? Who is the owner of the vehicle that created the short wheelbase tracks? What kind of vehicle was that? Do we even know if those tracks were from the right timing? Could there have been a construction vehicle/van trolling that area (remembering that white van that was reported as trolling Apex a few years ago)? Why was Nancy undressed…instead of jogging, maybe she went for a quickie, took all her clothes off, and her lover went overboard? If BC knew, or suspected, she was having an affair, he would definitely resent her even more now that she went and got herself killed, and he’s being blamed for it. I’m guessing no possibility of a suicide, so (if it’s not Brad) it would have to be random, lover, or lover’s jealous significant other. What other evidence is unexplained? What about the daughter saying that she saw the mother that morning? I know it’s hearsay, but I sure wish LE would have questioned the daughter. I’ve even considered everything is true up to she went jogging (including daughter seeing her that morning), BC followed her, and murdered her out there…then, there would be no evidence in the car, no struggle at the house, etc. Why didn’t the prosecution go down that path? Too risky to kill her in broad daylight?

IMO, I haven’t seen any facts (phone records/towers, shopping receipts, pictures of the house), enough circumstantial evidence (missing ducks, laundered (or not) dress, 2 left shoes, old love letters), or coincidences (cleaning the house, dump site near the neighborhood, different shoes in the 2 HT trips) that are that condemning. And I’m having a hard time believing that he was so perfect in his non-premeditated murder, dump, and clean-up. I can just imagine that we’re inspecting a couple days worth of a man whose life was falling apart, he’s trying his best to stumble onward through each day, and this terrible thing happens that completely turns him upside down. Until some real evidence, I definitely think that this scenario is possible.

Sorry for all the built up comments! Really enjoy reading everyone’s opinions, and thought it was about time to start contributing my own. Thanks!

 

[Tipstaff]

Consider this...statistically speaking police look at the spouse or significant other first.

Perhaps the policy of police departments across the country and in Cary, NC are careful to avoid making notes, documenting or discussing the possibilty of the spouse being the murderer to avoid the 'rush to judgement' that is sure to come when or IF the investigation turns into a murder investigation.

 

[sunshine05]

Welcome RTP Engineer. I would definitely take the time to go to the WRAL site and watch the defense opening so you can hear firsthand about the witnesses who claimed to see her that morning, the fact that she had caffeine in her blood, indicating she drank coffee that morning and some indications that JP should have been investigated further since NC still had contact with him.

<modsnip>
Link to defense opening:
http://www.wral.com/specialreports/nancycooper/asset_gallery/9252618/

 

[johnfear]

Welcome RTP Engineer. I would definitely take the time to go to the WRAL site and watch the defense opening so you can hear firsthand about the witnesses who claimed to see her that morning, the fact that she had caffeine in her blood, indicating she drank coffee that morning and some indications that JP should have been investigated further since NC still had contact with him.

<modsnip>

Link to defense opening:
http://www.wral.com/specialreports/nancycooper/asset_gallery/9252618/

<modsnip> (mostly kidding)

I just listened to an INCREDIBLE theory involving JA that actually could be considered about as strong as the case above and what we are seeing. I blew it off a few weeks back, but man, it really does feel strange watching this case play out.

I am in the mode today of: Anybody's ballgame based on who's in what mood on the jury.

 

[less0305]

Funny, <modsnip> the argument that BC didn't need to give NC the $300 since she made $240 painting - and YET BC himself testified in a sworn deposition he FORGOT to give her the money, even went so far as to say when he spoke with her from work that he would COME HOME right then and give her the money, but that Nancy said, no that wouldn't be necessary. <modsnip> an argument for him that he didn't even make for himself. He never once testified in a deposition or in an affidavit that he thought he didn't need to give Nancy the $300 that week because she made money painting. But dang it, I bet he wishes now he had thought of that sooner. No, simple fact of the matter is - he wasn't going to give her that money, never had any intention to give it to her, she wasn't going to be needing it where she was going (side of the road, lifeless, like a bag of trash).

 

[Maja]

<modsnip>

I just listened to an INCREDIBLE theory involving JA that actually could be considered about as strong as the case above and what we are seeing. I blew it off a few weeks back, but man, it really does feel strange watching this case play out.

I am in the mode today of: Anybody's ballgame based on who's in what mood on the jury.

Would love to hear both of your theories. Hey, at this juncture nothing is worth dismissal without consideration. If you're thinking it, it's possible.

 

[johnfear]

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/9349281/

 

[RTPEngineer]

Welcome RTP Engineer. I would definitely take the time to go to the WRAL site and watch the defense opening so you can hear firsthand about the witnesses who claimed to see her that morning, the fact that she had caffeine in her blood, indicating she drank coffee that morning and some indications that JP should have been investigated further since NC still had contact with him.

<modsnip>

Link to defense opening:
http://www.wral.com/specialreports/nancycooper/asset_gallery/9252618/

Argh. If I spend another 2 and 1/2 hours watching that opening statement, on top of all the time I've invested (wasted?) at this point, I may be able to get a better appreciation for a failed marriage as BC was experiencing after all! :lol:

But seriously, thanks for the link. I may just have to miss out on 2.5 hours of sleep tonight.

Also, I'm totally intrigued regarding your theory. <modsnip>

 

[RTPEngineer]

Funny, <modsnip> the argument that BC didn't need to give NC the $300 since she made $240 painting - and YET BC himself testified in a sworn deposition he FORGOT to give her the money, even went so far as to say when he spoke with her from work that he would COME HOME right then and give her the money, but that Nancy said, no that wouldn't be necessary. <modsnip> an argument for him that he didn't even make for himself. He never once testified in a deposition or in an affidavit that he thought he didn't need to give Nancy the $300 that week because she made money painting. But dang it, I bet he wishes now he had thought of that sooner. No, simple fact of the matter is - he wasn't going to give her that money, never had any intention to give it to her, she wasn't going to be needing it where she was going (side of the road, lifeless, like a bag of trash).

Didn't know that. Thanks for the correction. Although, my story was better. :winko: Ok, so he forgot, Nancy told him not to worry about it. Guess that works too. Why do you not believe his version of the events?

 

[gracielee]

Welcome RTPEngineer. I certainly am familiar with the traits of engineers in general. I've been happily married to one for nearly 43 years now. You are a breed alone!

 

[johnfear]

Would love to hear both of your theories. Hey, at this juncture nothing is worth dismissal without consideration. If you're thinking it, it's possible.

My personal theory is split at this point: I think he either did it and we have a second degree case OR I think the investigation really has been botched and it's something that was simply not found because it was off the wall. (Take your pick on the random murder/boyfriend from long ago/jealous Lochmere woman rumors)

I have two major issues with the way he has been portrayed. Not because I know him, but because I have been in his shoes (well, up til July 11th or so) and I know how weird my life would look were someone to microscope it. I also know that my reactions to things are bonkers and it would make me look worse than the situation was. That's my first issue.

My second issue is: She was still staying IN the house (whether by choice or not) and actively interacting with him to some degree. "I hate brad" days or not. This is the person who mothered his children. I have a VERY hard time wrapping my head around the way the body was left and I have a very hard time fitting the cleaning of the garage and the house and the murder and the body dump and caring for the kids and all of the things into a sensible time-line. I keep seeing evidence that the guy is self-obsessed, lazy and lacks a compulsive nature. Not only does this NOT make him a murderer. It also makes him a lot less likely to have pulled this off. (In other words, far too much credit is being given to the man's capabilities.)

I definitely see the points that some of the GUILTY folks are making and I have wavered myself thinking there was more to the technical nature of it all, but if the state rested right now, I would not be able to vote GUILTY of first degree murder. Primarily because I think the time spent on trying to show how thoroughly they investigated and followed Brad Cooper showed the defense's allegation that they "closed the case" and pointed the finger at him early to be true. (And I think the judge was right on to give the State this lead way because of that allegation).

 

[ncsu95]

I totally agree. It's interesting how he didn't have to look down to remember anything when the prosecution asked him questions, but now it's like he has no recollection of anything that happened between July 12-14th. He sure looks to be impartial.

That's because he was prepped on questioning by the prosecution. So he knew exactly what questions would be asked (in general).

 

[cityslick]

Asking JY if he recalled Brad asking DD what color the dress was. Says he didn't recall saying that.

I remember he did say that yesterday during direct.