Danielle Cooley knows how to draw an ugly picture. She went on the stand yesterday in the manslaughter trial of Cole Hopper and described her version of what happened the day Kelsey Bransby was shot.
Arianna Pickard of the Norman Transcript recounted Cooley's testimony in an article found online this morning. According to Pickard, Cooley testified that on the dizzying day in question, Ms. Bransby shot up some meth, an injection to the neck, while she took a solid toot of the drug, Opan. Cole Hopper then came over with a DVD which they were all going to watch. That is when things went terribly wrong.
Cooley said her friend Kelsey Bransby would get, "rambunctious" while under the influence and enjoyed posing for pictures with guns. She went on to say she heard a shot fired, turned and saw Bransby on the floor. She told the court that she didn't see Cole Hopper shoot the gun and in fact claimed she didn't even see it in his hand, or anywhere else.
Pickard reports that Cooley and Hopper assumed Ms. Bransby was dead and fled the scene. Cooley said that the first time she saw the weapon was during the drive away from the south side OKC apartment. According to her it was sitting in Hopper's lap. She also testified that later her boy friend told her he had sold the piece.
She said the two of them cooked up a cover story that included telling police that Bransby might have been shot by a meth dealer because she had failed to pay him. Cooley then testified that Hopper went so far as to text and call Bransby's phone after the shooting to establish they hadn't been there and didn't know what had happened to her.
She maintained they made up the lie because they didn't think the police would believe them if they told officers the truth.
Well she might have been onto something there. After avoiding investigators several times, she finally faced questioning and the cops apparently didn't believe anything she said, including what she swore to yesterday.
Pickard writes that Ms. Cooley testified she was chucked into the Cleveland County Detention Center for six months and was released only after she pleaded guilty to second degree murder after the fact.
The reality of the release is she was handed a 25 year suspended sentence. A check of court records today shows she is teetering on the edge of having the suspension revoked. In fact a bench warrant, which has since been recalled, was issued for her on June 3rd. The state contends that she failed to report as directed to a probation officer and she has also failed to abstain from the possession, or consumption of controlled dangerous substances. She is due for a hearing on June 21st.
Meanwhile down in Florida lawyers are wading through a morass of potential jurors in the trial of George Zimmerman. The Huffington Post is providing a live feed of the events through David Lohr.
There is no telling how long the process could take. Both the defense and the prosecution are dealing with a case that has left precious few people without an opinion of what happened the night Trayvon Martin was killed, or what should happen now.
According to Lohr, Juror N-18 was asked if he read the newspaper and the response was, "No, I read the bible." The same juror said he felt Zimmerman was guilty because the law-- that would be the 10 commandments-- says we aren't supposed to kill anybody. On the converse side, Juror E-81 claimed she didn't want to be sequestered, had considered contributing to Zimmerman's defense fund, and felt we'd all be better off if more people were armed. Juror K-80 found the protests surrounding the case, "very disturbing" and said she would be concerned for the safety of her family if Zimmerman was found not guilty. Finally, juror K-95 said she remembered being mildly irritated because she was inconvenienced by traffic during a Trayvon Martin protest.
Yes, from the biblical to the banal and all points in between the search slogs on. The only firm information at this moment is that Judge Debra Nelson has ruled the jury will be sequestered throughout the trial. Reports say that Florida law requires 6 jurors and 4 alternates.
There we have it. A glimpse into a dark lifestyle no one should ever lose themselves to and the opening act of a circus that might end up making the O.J. Simpson trial seem absolutely dignified.
Sometimes it is easy to understand why the Good Lord invented martinis and, ultimately, why we enjoy drinking them.
sic vita est
6-13-13
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