Inmate Charged With Rape And Murder Of University Of Delaware Student Resentenced To Death After Retrial
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A former death row inmate charged with raping and killing a University of Delaware student in 2005 has been sentenced to death again after a retrial.
James Cooke Jr. maintained his innocence and decried what he said was a corrupt judicial system after being sentenced Monday.
Cooke, 41, was convicted in April of killing 20-year-old Lindsey Bonistall of White Plains, N.Y. A jury voted 11-to-1 to recommend the death sentence.
Cooke was first sentenced to death in 2007, but the Delaware Supreme Court overturned his conviction and death sentence in 2009 because his public defenders, without Cooke's consent and despite his repeated claims of innocence, argued that he was guilty but mentally ill.
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