California To Review Infamous Case Of Death Row Inmate

Kevin Cooper was found guilty of the 1983 slayings in Los Angeles and was hours away from execution when public figures lobbied then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency.

California will launch a new probe into the high-profile case of a death row inmate convicted of the murder of four people who have maintained for decades that he was framed by police, Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday. Kevin Cooper was found guilty of the 1983 slayings in a suburb outside Los Angeles and was hours away from execution in 2004 when public figures from Reverend Jesse Jackson to Denzel Washington lobbied then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency. Schwarzenegger denied those calls but Cooper's execution was called off at the last minute by an appeals court. Subsequent governors have ordered new DNA testing of evidence using the latest technologies.