When the Bible Teacher knew she was doomed Her Lips Spilled Prayers...Then Blood

Although some of the furor over Pelke's death had subsided somewhat, Cooper continued to make headline news in the local papers prior to trial. She had been caught, for instance, engaging in sex in her cell with several jail guards in what some said was an attempt to become pregnant to avoid the death penalty. However, subsequent pregnancy tests proved negative, quickly ending such speculation.

On April 21, 1986 Paula Cooper went before Judge Kimbrough with her attorney, Kevin Relphorde. Because of the overwhelming evidence against her, Cooper pleaded guilty to murder on the advice of her attorney to avoid trial and to try and sidestep the possibility of the death penalty.

At a sentencing hearing, the judge heard testimony from the prosecution and the defense. According to prosecution testimony, Cooper, shortly after her arrest, attacked several detention officers at a juvenile facility and had to be transferred to the county jail along with Karen Corder. At the jail, a corrections officer testified, she bragged about killing Ruth Pelke and said she would stab her again if she could. She also said, according to the officer's testimony, that she would stab the officer's grandmother, too, if she had the chance. Other officers testified that she and Corder set fire to their cells and each taunted the jailers by saying, "Give me the electric chair. Give that shock."

"People show more compassion for insects than she showed for Mrs. Pelke," said Prosecutor McNew, in arguing for the death penalty.

Her attorney, Kevin Relphorde, outlined Cooper's unfortunate childhood which included beatings with belts and extension cords, as well as the attempt on her life by a relative. He also pointed out her chronic runaway behavior, and the fact that she'd lived in a string of foster homes and juvenile centers. He eventually placed Cooper on the stand to testify.

"I didn't go there to take somebody's life," she said to a filled courtroom. "It happened. It just happened. Something — it wasn't planned. We didn't sit up and say we was going to go and kill this innocent old lady. We didn't even know the lady. Everybody put the blame on me." Cooper told members of Pelke's family, present in the courtroom, that she was sorry for what had occurred, and she begged the judge to spare her life.

In a statement prior to meting out sentence, Judge Kimbrough said he had not been convinced that Paula Cooper's unfortunate childhood justified her behavior. "We would not want our children to be beaten with extension cords," said the judge, "but we would not expect them to go out and kill little old ladies because of it." Unable to ignore "the wantonness and brutality of the crime" and saying that Cooper was "old enough and had the sense enough to be as cold as she was," Judge Kimbrough sentenced Cooper to death in the electric chair.

"The court today (July 11, 1986) has made a courageous and historic, yet very difficult, decision," said Lake County prosecutor Jack Crawford. "She is the first juvenile ever to receive the death penalty, and the youngest person ever to be sentenced to death in modern American legal history...The sentence was just. This was a terrible and senseless crime."

"If she had killed somebody twenty miles down the road," said an opponent of the death penalty, "she wouldn't have got the death penalty, because it's illegal for minors in Illinois."

Pointing out that half of all death sentences are reversed, primarily on technical grounds, Cooper's attorney remained confident that an appeal would be granted and that public pressure would block the execution. "Somewhere down the line, somebody is going to say, we can't kill this girl," he said.

For now, Paula Cooper sits in her cell on Indiana's death row, awaiting a decision by the courts on whether or not her execution will be carried out.

Click here to learn more about Gary C. King's books and to order your very own copy today! Alternatively, you can visit King's personal Web site at: www.garycking.com.