Steve Cooley
Encyclopedia
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Cooley (born May 1, 1947) is an American
politician
. As a Republican
, he has been a prosecutor
for 27 years and has been the Los Angeles County District Attorney
since his election in 2000, in which he defeated incumbent two-term District Attorney Gil Garcetti
, a Democrat
. Cooley was re-elected in 2004 and 2008.
Cooley won the Republican nomination for Attorney General against John C. Eastman
and Tom Harman
in the June 8 primary election
. Cooley ran against and lost to the Democratic nominee, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris
, in the November 2 general election. On November 24, 2010, Cooley lost the election to Harris.
(now St. Vincent's Medical Center) in Los Angeles. His father was an FBI
agent and his mother a homemaker
. Cooley attended Pater Noster High School in Los Angeles. At California State University, Los Angeles
, Cooley served two terms as Student Body President and was selected for membership in Phi Kappa Phi
. He was also a member of Zeta Beta Tau
fraternity
. In 1970, he was commencement speaker for his graduating class. Cooley entered the University of Southern California Law School
and received his Juris Doctor
in 1973. That same year he joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Cooley served over seven years as a reserve police officer with LAPD and 27 years as prosecutor.
, with the stated purpose to assure proportionality in sentencing and even-handed application countywide. Throughout his time as District Attorney, Cooley continued his efforts against the Three Strikes Law in favor of proportionality, including supporting ballot measures that would have altered Three Strikes. The blowback from those efforts ultimately led Cooley to leave the California District Attorneys Association in 2006.
As District Attorney, Cooley first made the headlines in the prosecution of Winona Ryder
for shoplifting. Cooley filed four felony
charges against her and led of team of eight prosecutors in what was described by British newspaper The Guardian
as a "show-trial."
," a measure named after Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old who was raped and murdered by a paroled sex offender in Florida. Cooley criticized Jessica's Law as being "not carefully crafted," adding that "Not liking sex offenders is a good thing and a popular thing, but when are creating something to deal with them you have to think it through." California voters passed Proposition 83 overwhelmingly with 70.5 percent of the vote.
Also during his second term, Steve Cooley's office was unsuccessful in the prosecution of Robert Blake
for the murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley
. When interviewed about Robert Blake's
acquittal, Steve Cooley publicly called members of the jury
who acquitted Blake "incredibly stupid" and refused to apologize for the statement.
According to The Los Angeles Times, advocates for battered women have criticized Cooley’s handling of Deborah Peagler
’s case and others like it. In eight out of eight cases, he has opposed the use of a California law that allows battered women in prison to be given a new hearing if evidence of domestic violence was omitted during the original proceedings. Cooley had initially supported Peagler's release from prison, but then withdrew his offer to reduce the battered woman's prison sentence. In April 2008, a California Superior Court Judge removed Cooley's entire office from Peagler's case due to allegations of misconduct and conflicts of interest.
Just a week before the 2008 election that he ultimately won, Cooley was attacked for a deal that he made with defense attorneys and judges to postpone seeking tougher sanctions against a group of serious sex offenders that had completed their prison terms. Rather than seeking indefinite hospitalization for some offenders, as allowed under a November 2006 ballot measure, Cooley only sought two years.
in 1936.
The LA Times editorial desk wrote on April 28, 2008 of Cooley, "It is noteworthy that he criticized predecessor Gil Garcetti in 2000 for seeking a third term and promised that he would serve only two." But in 2008, he sought a third term, despite his promise.
Cooley's June 2008 re-election opponent, Albert Robles, faced misdemeanor charges filed against him by the DA's office in November 2007. Robles was charged with printing a political mail piece without a return address and expending more than $100 cash in a political campaign. Robles accused Cooley of direct involvement in the charges brought against him because of a personal vendetta and to effect outcome of the 2008 DA's election held June 2008. Cooley denied those allegations. Robles lost to Cooley in June 2008, but in October 2008 a jury found Robles not guilty of all charges after deliberating 20 minutes and was re-elected in November 2008 to his seat on the Water Replenishment District of Southern California board.
Currently, Cooley is being sued in federal court by the nation's largest prosecutors union, which at one time had over 700 members. The Association of Deputy District Attorneys filed suit against Cooley for allegedly violating the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The trial will likely begin in 2011. Judge Otis D. Wright II described District Attorney Steve Cooley's actions as "striking and rampant." Judge Wright issued a preliminary injunction ordering Cooley to stop discriminating and retaliating against employees on the basis of their union membership. The LA Times reported "Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley waged an illegal anti-union campaign in which he and his staff harassed and unfairly disciplined union officers." Thomas S. Kerrigan, an LA County hearing officer for the Employee Relations Commission heard months of testimony and found that veteran deputy district attorneys and prosecutors under Cooley, with outstanding evaluations, were retaliated against. Kerrigan stated Cooley conducted a "deliberate and thinly disguised campaign" aimed at destroying the union.
Cooley has investigated state Senator Rod Wright
for living outside of his elected district, and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn
for a low-interest loan from the City of Inglewood.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. As a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he has been a prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
for 27 years and has been the Los Angeles County District Attorney
Los Angeles County District Attorney
The District Attorney of Los Angeles County prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County, California....
since his election in 2000, in which he defeated incumbent two-term District Attorney Gil Garcetti
Gil Garcetti
Gilbert Salvadore Iberri "Gil" Garcetti is an American politician. He served as Los Angeles County's 40th District Attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000.-Background:...
, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. Cooley was re-elected in 2004 and 2008.
Cooley won the Republican nomination for Attorney General against John C. Eastman
John C. Eastman
John C. Eastman is an American law professor and politician. He is the Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law. in Orange, California...
and Tom Harman
Tom Harman
Thomas George Harman is an American politician. He is a Republican member of the California State Senate who had previously been a three-term member of the California State Assembly. Both seats represent portions of Orange County....
in the June 8 primary election
California state elections, June 2010
The California state elections, June 2010 were held on June 8, 2010 and included five propositions and two special elections, one for a State Senate seat and the other for a State Assembly seat...
. Cooley ran against and lost to the Democratic nominee, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris is an American attorney. She is the 32nd and current Attorney General of California following the 2010 California state elections. Harris has worked as an author and a politician and has served as District Attorney of San Francisco since 2004...
, in the November 2 general election. On November 24, 2010, Cooley lost the election to Harris.
Early life and education
The second of five children, Cooley was born at St. Vincent's HospitalSt. Vincent Medical Center (Los Angeles)
St. Vincent Medical Center is a hospital in Los Angeles, California.-History:Originally founded in 1856 as the Los Angeles Infirmary by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Vincent Medical Center was the first hospital in Los Angeles. The name was changed in 1918 to St. Vincent's...
(now St. Vincent's Medical Center) in Los Angeles. His father was an FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent and his mother a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. Cooley attended Pater Noster High School in Los Angeles. At California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
, Cooley served two terms as Student Body President and was selected for membership in Phi Kappa Phi
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
. He was also a member of Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Beta Tau was founded in 1898 as the nation's first Jewish fraternity, although it is no longer sectarian. Today the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood is one of the largest, numbering over 140,000 initiated Brothers, and over 90 chapter locations.-Founding:The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was...
fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. In 1970, he was commencement speaker for his graduating class. Cooley entered the University of Southern California Law School
University of Southern California Law School
The University of Southern California Law School , located in Los Angeles, California, is a law school within the University of Southern California...
and received his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1973. That same year he joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Cooley served over seven years as a reserve police officer with LAPD and 27 years as prosecutor.
Los Angeles County District Attorney
Cooley was elected to his first term as District Attorney in 2000. The election campaign featured a record-breaking 15 debates, and Cooley captured nearly two-thirds of the vote. He was the first attorney with trial experience to be elected District Attorney since 1984. At his 2000 swearing-in ceremony, he charged his over 1,000 prosecutors – including more than 300 District Attorney investigators and 600 clerical, technical and support staff – to “Show no fear in pursuing the criminal element, but also be fearless in the pursuit of justice.”First Term
Once in office, Cooley instituted a reorganization of the District Attorney's Office. On April 9, 2003, Cooley announced that he was closing the office's Environmental Crimes unit. The closure left only one attorney to cover all environmental crimes in Los Angeles County. The reorganization also included the creation of the Justice System Integrity Division, Forensic Science Section and Victim Impact Program. Cooley changed the office's policy on California's Three Strikes LawThree strikes law
Three strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
, with the stated purpose to assure proportionality in sentencing and even-handed application countywide. Throughout his time as District Attorney, Cooley continued his efforts against the Three Strikes Law in favor of proportionality, including supporting ballot measures that would have altered Three Strikes. The blowback from those efforts ultimately led Cooley to leave the California District Attorneys Association in 2006.
As District Attorney, Cooley first made the headlines in the prosecution of Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
for shoplifting. Cooley filed four felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
charges against her and led of team of eight prosecutors in what was described by British newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as a "show-trial."
Second Term
In 2006, Cooley was the most notable law enforcement official to publicly oppose Proposition 83, better known as "Jessica's LawJessica's Law
Jessica's Law is the informal name given to a 2005 Florida law, as well as laws in several other states, designed to punish sex offenders and reduce their ability to re-offend...
," a measure named after Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old who was raped and murdered by a paroled sex offender in Florida. Cooley criticized Jessica's Law as being "not carefully crafted," adding that "Not liking sex offenders is a good thing and a popular thing, but when are creating something to deal with them you have to think it through." California voters passed Proposition 83 overwhelmingly with 70.5 percent of the vote.
Also during his second term, Steve Cooley's office was unsuccessful in the prosecution of Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
for the murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley
Bonnie Lee Bakley
Bonnie Lee Bakley was the wife of actor Robert Blake.-Early life:Bonny Lee Bakley was born in Morristown, New Jersey to arborist Edward J. Bakley and his wife, Marjorie Lois Bakley. Bakley had three other siblings: Margerry Lisa Bakley, Joe Bakley, and her half-brother Peter Carlyon from her...
. When interviewed about Robert Blake's
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
acquittal, Steve Cooley publicly called members of the jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
who acquitted Blake "incredibly stupid" and refused to apologize for the statement.
According to The Los Angeles Times, advocates for battered women have criticized Cooley’s handling of Deborah Peagler
Deborah Peagler
Deborah "Debi" Denise Peagler was a battered woman who was in prison from 1983 to 2009 for alleged involvement in the murder of Oliver Wilson, the man who abused her, forced her into prostitution, and molested her daughters.Her incarceration became controversial in 2005...
’s case and others like it. In eight out of eight cases, he has opposed the use of a California law that allows battered women in prison to be given a new hearing if evidence of domestic violence was omitted during the original proceedings. Cooley had initially supported Peagler's release from prison, but then withdrew his offer to reduce the battered woman's prison sentence. In April 2008, a California Superior Court Judge removed Cooley's entire office from Peagler's case due to allegations of misconduct and conflicts of interest.
Just a week before the 2008 election that he ultimately won, Cooley was attacked for a deal that he made with defense attorneys and judges to postpone seeking tougher sanctions against a group of serious sex offenders that had completed their prison terms. Rather than seeking indefinite hospitalization for some offenders, as allowed under a November 2006 ballot measure, Cooley only sought two years.
Third Term
In June 2008 Cooley was elected to a third term, defeating his challengers, nonpartisan candidate Steve Ipsen, President of the LA County Prosecutors Union, and Democratic candidate Albert Robles, an attorney and professor. Cooley became the first L.A. County District Attorney to win a third term since Buron FittsBuron Fitts
Buron Rogers Fitts was a California politician, who was the 29th Lieutenant Governor of the state from 1927 to 1928 and Los Angeles County district attorney thereafter until 1940....
in 1936.
The LA Times editorial desk wrote on April 28, 2008 of Cooley, "It is noteworthy that he criticized predecessor Gil Garcetti in 2000 for seeking a third term and promised that he would serve only two." But in 2008, he sought a third term, despite his promise.
Cooley's June 2008 re-election opponent, Albert Robles, faced misdemeanor charges filed against him by the DA's office in November 2007. Robles was charged with printing a political mail piece without a return address and expending more than $100 cash in a political campaign. Robles accused Cooley of direct involvement in the charges brought against him because of a personal vendetta and to effect outcome of the 2008 DA's election held June 2008. Cooley denied those allegations. Robles lost to Cooley in June 2008, but in October 2008 a jury found Robles not guilty of all charges after deliberating 20 minutes and was re-elected in November 2008 to his seat on the Water Replenishment District of Southern California board.
Currently, Cooley is being sued in federal court by the nation's largest prosecutors union, which at one time had over 700 members. The Association of Deputy District Attorneys filed suit against Cooley for allegedly violating the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The trial will likely begin in 2011. Judge Otis D. Wright II described District Attorney Steve Cooley's actions as "striking and rampant." Judge Wright issued a preliminary injunction ordering Cooley to stop discriminating and retaliating against employees on the basis of their union membership. The LA Times reported "Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley waged an illegal anti-union campaign in which he and his staff harassed and unfairly disciplined union officers." Thomas S. Kerrigan, an LA County hearing officer for the Employee Relations Commission heard months of testimony and found that veteran deputy district attorneys and prosecutors under Cooley, with outstanding evaluations, were retaliated against. Kerrigan stated Cooley conducted a "deliberate and thinly disguised campaign" aimed at destroying the union.
Policies
In 2009 Cooley declared his opposition to medicinal marijuana dispensaries that sell over-the-counter in Los Angeles County.Cooley has investigated state Senator Rod Wright
Roderick Wright (politician)
Roderick D. Wright is a Democratic politician who was elected to represent California's 25th State Senate district in 2008. Senator Wright previously represented California's 48th State Assembly district from 1996 until he was term limited in 2002.-Education and Pre Legislative Career:Senator...
for living outside of his elected district, and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn
Roosevelt F. Dorn
Roosevelt F. Dorn, the former mayor of Inglewood, California, was born October 29, 1935, in Checotah, Oklahoma.Dorn was elected mayor in 1997 to fill the unexpired term of Edward Vincent, who had become a member of the state Assembly. He was elected to a full term on November 3, 1998, and again in...
for a low-interest loan from the City of Inglewood.