Commentary: District attorney relishes his job, will run for re-election in 2022
Copied and pasted only the parts of the article that refer to this case:
District Attorney Brent Cooper told
The Daily Herald last week that he will bring convicted felon Tad Cummins back to Maury County to faces state charges in the Elizabeth Thomas kidnapping case. He also said he plans to run for re-election in 2022.
Not everyone would agree with my assessment of Cooper, nor will critics agree with his decision to pursue state charges against Cummins. The former Culleoka Unit School teacher pleaded guilty to federal charges in January and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Cooper’s office would save time and money by letting the federal convictions stand on their own. But Cooper decided to charge Cummins in Columbia, where he used to live, after talking in-depth with Thomas. Cooper promised the DA’s office would listen to victims more closely, if elected.
“After speaking with the victim, Miss Thomas, I told her I would continue the case,” Cooper said. “I told people when I was campaigning that my office would be more friendly and available to victims, and more sensitive to victims. That has always been a goal of mine.
“As soon as I found out that his federal case was over, I reached out to Miss Thomas, and we have decided to go forward. Cummins faces one state charge that he has not been served with — the kidnapping charge when they were missing. Based on things we are learning from her, there may be other state charges.”
No date has been scheduled in court. At some point, Cummins will have to return to Columbia and the Maury County Courthouse.
“It’s no small task to get a federal inmate into a local county jail,” Cooper said. “You have to jump through a lot of hoops. A lot will depend where he’s housed in the federal system. But we are going to start the process soon. We are going to get him here. Hopefully, we will achieve a fair outcome in state court.”
As a witness, Thomas will credible and strong if she needs to testify, Cooper said.
“She will be fine,” Cooper said. “She is dramatically a different person than when all of this happened. The difference in her now, as opposed to then, just lends credence to our theory that she was manipulated back then.”
The Cummins kidnapping ordeal in March 2017 tested the DA’s office to maximum. Cooper knew Cummins well. Both went to school in Mt. Pleasant. Cooper was stunned when Cummins melted down during an apparent middle-age crisis and ran across the country with his then-15-year-old student.
“He came from a wonderful family,” Cooper said. “This behavior surprised me as much as anybody.”
To capture Cummins, police and prosecutors wanted to keep the story alive and on the front page, putting Cooper in front of TV cameras on a regular basis. Cummins and the teenager were found in northern California a month later.
“I don’t like being on TV or doing TV interviews, but we intentionally did it to have people looking for him,” Cooper said.
