Steve Cooley
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Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. He is also a former reserve Los Angeles Police officer.
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[edit] Background
The second of five children, Steve Cooley was born at St. Vincent's Hospital (now St. Vincent's Medical Center) in Los Angeles, California. His father was an FBI agent and his mother a homemaker. Cooley attended schools in the Silver Lake area.
At California State University, Los Angeles, Cooley served two terms as Student Body President and was selected for membership in Phi Kappa Phi Academic Honor Society. In 1970, He was commencement speaker for his graduating class. Cooley later entered USC Gould School of Law. He graduated in 1973, receiving the Am Jur Award for Criminal Law. That same year he joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
[edit] Flirting with higher Office
Steve Cooley was preparing to run as a Republican in the 2006 election to replace the termed out California Attorney General, Bill Lockyer. However, following Robert Blake's acquittal, where Cooley publicly called members of the jury who acquitted him "incredibly stupid" and refused to apologize for it [1], Cooley dropped out of the race citing he wants to finish out his term as Los Angeles County District Attorney which runs until 2008 [2]. Robert Blake's civil trial was not without controversy as well. A defense witness with evidence and an alternate theory of who killed Bonnie Lee Bakley, Brian Allan Fiebelkorn, testified that Steve Cooley sent an intimidating LAPD detective named Ron Ito to interview him. A secretly recorded tape by the LAPD detective of one of Fiebelkorn's interviews seemed to prove Fiebelkorn's claims of police intimidation. M. Gerald Schwartzbach (Robert Blake's criminal attorney) and Brian Allan Fiebelkorn, filed a formal complaint against the LAPD and detective Ron Ito.
[edit] Quotes
- "The worst public works disaster in the nation", referring to Belmont Learning Center. [3]
- "This cold-blooded killer, Stanley Williams, now seeks mercy, the very mercy he so callously denied". [4]
- "Quite frankly, based on my review of the evidence, he is as guilty as sin. He is a miserable human being" referring to Robert Blake's 2005 acquittal. [5]
