Search the Web
Custom Search
|
Jason Duane Cooper Convicted For Torturing, Stabbing In-Laws
March 30, 2009VISTA, Calif. -- A Fallbrook man who repeatedly stabbed his mother-in-law and teenage sister-in-law in their North County home was convicted Monday of torture and first-degree murder.
Jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders against Jason Duane Cooper. On Thursday, jurors will begin a second phase of trial to determine if Cooper, 27, was insane at the time of the killings.
If he is found sane, Cooper would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. If the jury finds him insane, he would be sent to a state mental hospital.
Deputy District Attorney Kimberlee Lagotta told the jury that Cooper stabbed 16-year-old Jenna Liebner 56 times and her mother, Robyn Liebner, 27 times in the family home on April 26, 2006.
Defense attorney Wil Rumble argued that the crimes amounted to voluntary manslaughter because the victims were killed in the heat of passion.
According to court testimony, Cooper first stabbed his young sister-in-law near the kitchen of the ranch-style home, then grabbed a second knife and stabbed her 53-year-old mother as she returned from feeding her horses.
Prosecutors suggested that Cooper killed the victims for inheritance money, but Rumble said an argument between Jenna Liebner and his client over books on medieval literature fueled the attack.
Do you suppose Jason Duane Cooper killed his in-laws because of medieval literature, or inheritance money? Return to San Diego Local News Roundup
