Cooke v. State

• Decision Date: 21 July 2009
• Docket Number: No. 324, 2007.,No. 289, 2007.,289, 2007.,324, 2007.
• Citation: 977 A.2d 803
• Parties: James COOKE, Defendant Below-Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below-Appellee.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Delaware

977 A.2d 803

James COOKE, Defendant Below-Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below-Appellee.

No. 289, 2007.

No. 324, 2007.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: April 8, 2009.

Decided: July 21, 2009.

Court Below: Superior Court of the State of Delaware, in and for New Castle County, ID No. 0506005981.

Upon appeal from the Superior Court.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

Jennifer Kate Aronson, Esquire (argued) and Joseph A. Gabay, Esquire (argued), Wilmington, Delaware, for appellant.

Paul R. Wallace, Esquire (argued), Loren C. Meyers, Esquire, Steven P. Wood, Esquire, Gregory E. Smith, Esquire, Danielle J. Brennan, Esquire of the Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware, for appellee.

Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, BERGER, JACOBS, and RIDGELY, Justices, constituting the Court en Banc.

RIDGELY, Justice, for the Majority.

In this capital case, we address whether defense counsel may introduce evidence incriminating their client at the guilt/innocence phase and then argue that a competent defendant is "guilty but mentally ill" of the crimes charged when the defendant expressly objects to this strategy, asserts his factual innocence, denies mental illness, and so testifies before the jury. We also address whether the trial judge, in these extraordinary circumstances, may choose not to intervene when the conflict between defense counsel and the defendant over the objectives of the representation so plainly appears and the defendant testifies that he has "fired" his attorneys and "I'm defending my own self." We conclude that defense counsel's strategy infringed upon the defendant's personal and fundamental constitutional rights to plead not guilty, to testify in his own defense, and to have the contested issue of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt decided by an impartial jury. Defense counsel's conduct in this case, and the trial court's refusal to intervene and provide a remedy, so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process contemplated by the Sixth Amendment and the Due Process Clause that the trial cannot be relied upon as having produced a just result. Accordingly, we must reverse the judgment of the Superior Court and remand for a new trial.

I. The Issues on Appeal.

Defendant-Appellant James Cooke appeals from his Superior Court convictions of eleven charges, including rape in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, arson in the first degree, and two counts of murder in the first degree, which resulted in a sentence of death.¹ Nine claims of error are before us. First, Cooke claims that the trial court violated his right to due process and right to counsel guaranteed by the United States and Delaware Constitutions when it permitted defense counsel to argue that Cooke was "guilty but mentally ill" over his express objection and despite his plea of "not guilty." Second, he contends that the court violated his Sixth Amendment right by failing to inquire sufficiently and timely into the actual conflict of interest and/or irreconcilable conflict that existed between Cooke and his trial counsel. Third, he argues that it was plain error for the court to admit psychiatric evidence and instruct the jury on the alternative verdict of "guilty but mentally ill" in the absence of an affirmative defense of "not guilty by reason of insanity." Fourth, he claims that the court erred in finding that antisocial personality disorder is "exempted" as a mental illness that serves as a basis for a finding of "guilty but mentally ill." Fifth, he urges that the court's jury instruction on "guilty but mentally ill" failed to require that the State prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Cooke suffered from antisocial personality disorder. Sixth, Cooke contends that he was denied a fair penalty hearing as a result of prosecutorial misconduct. Seventh, he argues that Title 11, Section 4209 of the Delaware Code is unconstitutional, because it is overly inclusive and does not require a finding by the jury that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. Eighth, he claims that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence related to the search of his residence. Ninth, he claims that his death sentence is not proportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases.

We find merit to Cooke's first and second claims under the Sixth Amendment. His remaining claims are therefore moot, with the exception of his eighth claim, which we find lacks merit.

II. Facts and Procedural History

A. The Crimes: Harmon, Cuadra, and Bonistall.

On April 26, 2005, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Cheryl Harmon returned to her apartment in the Towne Court Apartments in Newark. When she entered her apartment, she noticed bright red writing on her front living room wall and noted a strong odor of fingernail polish. Written on the living room wall was the statement "We'll be back." The statement "I what [sic] my drug money" was written on the bathroom wall, and the statement "Stop messing with my men" was written on the bedroom door. A living room window, previously locked, had been pried open to gain entry. Various items were also missing from her apartment, including two rings engraved with Harmon's name. Harmon called the police, who arrived soon after. However, there were no immediate suspects.

On April 29, 2005, Amalia Cuadra awoke in her Newark home to someone standing in her bedroom shining a light in her face. Thinking it was her roommate, Cuadra called out: "Carolina." In response she heard: "Shut the fuck up or I'll kill you; I know you have money." Cuadra, who was wearing only a t-shirt and underwear, got out of bed, wrapped herself in a blanket, and gave the person $45 from her wallet. She was also able to press 911 on her cell phone, but did not press "send." The person then demanded: "Give me your fucking credit cards or I'll kill you," and then "Take off your fucking clothes or I'll kill you." Cuadra screamed "Carolina" three times. As she screamed, the person apparently also saw the cell phone screen displaying "911" and fled, taking several items, including Cuadra's iPod, a backpack with her name tag, her credit card, and diet pills in a tin container. After the man left, Cuadra called 911. She described the intruder as a light skinned black male with bumps or freckles on his face, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a hat, gloves, and light blue pants. Again, however, there were no immediate suspects.

On May 1, 2005, at about 1 a.m., Lindsey Bonistall, a twenty-year-old student at the University of Delaware, returned to her apartment in the Towne Court Apartments. Shortly thereafter, an intruder burglarized her apartment, entering through a sliding door that led from a balcony into her living room. The intruder eventually encountered Bonistall and attacked her in her bedroom. He beat Bonistall, striking her on the head at least twice above her left eye and on her chin. The intruder then used an iron cord to bind Bonistall's hands behind her back. Using her own t-shirts, the intruder further bound his victim. One t-shirt was knotted and shoved forcibly into her mouth as a gag. It was so tight that teeth marks were still visible when the gag was introduced at trial almost two years later. The intruder then knotted another t-shirt, which he used as a ligature to strangle Bonistall. Bonistall suffered severe bruising on her chest, consistent with someone kneeling on her, which likely occurred when the intruder was tightening the t-shirt-turned-noose. The intruder then raped Bonistall and strangled her to death.

It is likely that Bonistall was killed in her bed. Then, in an apparent attempt to eliminate evidence of his crime, after raping and strangling her to death, the intruder took a bottle of bleach from Bonistall's closet and doused her dead body with bleach while she was still in her bed. He then dragged Bonistall's still bound body to the bathroom, placed her facedown in the bathtub, piled pillows, a wicker basket, and a guitar on top of Bonistall's body, and lit a fire. Although portions of her body were badly burned, Bonistall was dead before the fire started.

Continuing his attempt to conceal the true nature of his crime, at some point while he was still in the apartment, but before starting the fire, the intruder wrote on the walls and countertops of Bonistall's apartment in blue marker. Written on the interior surface of the front door and on a closet door directly across from it, was the statement "KKK." The statements "More Bodies Are going to be turn in [sic] up Dead," "We Want Are [sic] weed back," and "Give us Are [sic] drugs back" were written on the living room wall, and the statements "WHITE Power" and "KKK" appeared in the kitchen.

At approximately 3 a.m., shortly after Bonistall was murdered, the fire the intruder started in the bathtub awakened local residents, who called the local fire department. Late that morning, the fire marshal investigating the scene discovered Bonistall's body lying face-down in the melted, burnt bathtub. Portions of the walls above the bathtub had collapsed around her body as a result of the fire, and the tub had to be broken apart in order for Bonistall's body to be removed.

B. The Investigation.

Early in the morning of April 29, two days before Bonistall was murdered, Cooke returned to his residence at 9 Lincoln Drive in Newark, where he lived with his girlfriend, Rochelle Campbell.² Campbell noticed a panty liner and a backpack which she did not recognize. The backpack contained an iPod, a tin-looking container, and a name tag with a "Spanish" name on it. She asked Cooke where he got the backpack and he said he had taken it from some college students who had gotten into a car accident outside the house and left it on the curb. He then showed Campbell the credit cards, discussed trying to use them at a nearby ATM, and left.

On May 2, JP Morgan Chase determined that someone had attempted...