Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is leaving the paper to run for governor of Oregon. In a farewell note, he brought up his most misguided effort — to free convicted killer Kevin Cooper — as unfinished business. From the note:
I’ve written repeatedly about the case of a Black man named Kevin Cooper who is on death row in California for the murder of a white family: I believe he was framed by the sheriff’s office, and I believe that an open investigation, which was prompted by my reporting, will clear him soon and he will be released after 38 years. I’d love to be able to stand with my reporter’s notebook outside San Quentin and cover his release.
Here’s what you need to know.
A jury convicted killer Kevin Cooper and sentenced him to death for the 1983 Chino Hills murders of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their daughter Jessica, 10, Christopher Hughes, 11, who was sleeping over with his friend Josh Ryen, who had been left for dead.
At the time of the crime, Cooper had escaped from a nearby prison and was hiding out at a house next to the Ryen’s home. After the killings, their car was stolen as Cooper headed to Mexico.
I’ve written on this story before, as you can see:
Kevin Cooper is still guilty; that's a 'Death Row' story
July 24, 2015Updated: July 24, 2015 4:28 p.m.
DNA testing was not around during the trial, so after DNA tests were used to overturn bad convictions, Cooper claimed that DNA tests would exonerate him, if only authorities would conduct said testing.
Guess what: DNA evidence placed Cooper in the Ryen home. At trial, Cooper had denied entering the Ryen home.
Kristof and others prefer to ignore the evidence in favor of a fanciful story about Cooper being framed.
In 2018, as Kristof was working to free Cooper, he talked to Christopher Hughes’ parents Bill and Mary Ann, who were convinced Cooper is guilty of killing their little boy. He wrote,
I told Bill and Mary Ann Hughes that my heart breaks for them. And of course, I can’t be sure that Kevin Cooper is innocent. One lesson to absorb from the criminal justice system’s past mistakes is that we need some humility about our own ability to ferret out truth.
The fact that Kristof talked to Bill and Mary Ann Hughes, whose son was butchered and Kristof’s heart breaks for them, is supposed to make you think that he is a thorough reporter who left no stone unturned. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I spoke to two individuals who worked on Cooper’s defense team who told me he’s guilty.
One, Paul Ingels, a former Pomona cop turned private investigator had advocated for Cooper to get DNA testing because he believed it might exonerate Cooper. But then the tests were conducted and they put Cooper at the scene of the crime. "It proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Kevin Cooper was involved in the murders,” Ingels told me in 2004.
Forensics expert Edward T. Blake has been a strong advocate for DNA evidence, she he used to overturn wrongful convictions. The high-power Cooper defense team hired him to look at DNA tests. "Yeah, he's guilty, as determined by the trial and the failure of a very extensive post-conviction investigation to prove otherwise," Blake once told me.
Somehow, with his assistants and all the resources of the New York Times, Kristof didn’t get to Ingels’ and Blake’s stories.
He had time to tell the Hughes how sorry he felt for them, even as he didn’t follow the whole trail.
He decided to ignore the verdict of a jury, and the findings of every court since that guilty verdict in favor of the conviction. He has impugned the character of law enforcement officials who sought justice — all in his effort to show what a great guy he is. When really, he is guilty of the very sin of which he accuses prosecutors — ignoring facts that don’t support his story.
Raising money for Kristof’s campaign, ActBlue observes that Kristof has been called the “most moral opinion columnist of his generation.”
The word I would use is: smarmy.
Do Oregonians want this kind of person to be their governor?
Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute's Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.
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Get back to me when somebody interrogates Kristoff with a flaming chainsaw.
Ask the citizens of Pennsylvania about Kevin Cooper .He is a killer for sure!