New trial for man serving 18-year term

WOODBURY - A state appeals court ordered a new trial Monday for a Paulsboro man who has been serving an 18-year prison term for robbery.

A two-judge panel found multiple errors during a 2014 trial for Brian T. Cooper, who is accused of robbing a woman at a West Deptford motel in October 2012.

The appellate ruling, noting Cooper's "entire defense was based on identification," said jurors improperly heard testimony that named him as a suspect.

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The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said it will try Cooper a second time.

A Gloucester County jury convicted Cooper, now 55, after a West Deptford police detective narrated surveillance video that showed two men outside the victim's motel room. Detective Jason Sherman told jurors a man seen wearing dark clothing and sunglasses in the late-night video had been identified as Cooper.

But the appellate decision noted Sherman had not recognized Cooper as the suspect. Instead, the detective had obtained Cooper's name from a Paulsboro cop who did not testify.

It said a defense objection to Sherman's testimony should have been upheld because a police officer "may not imply to the jury that he possesses superior knowledge, outside the record, that incriminates the defendant."

The ruling also faulted Sherman's narration of "what he believed he saw on the video," saying that testimony improperly "crossed the line from suspicion to fact."

"He was in no better position than the jury to interpret what was shown on the video," the ruling continued

Those errors were compounded by the trial judge's failure to instruct the jury "on how to analyze and consider the trustworthiness of eyewitness identification."

The ruling noted the victim, who identified Cooper in court, initially told police she had "briefly encountered (him) for the first time shortly before the robbery" at the Paulsboro home of Delonce T. Hackley, Cooper's son and an alleged accomplice.

Hackley was acquitted of robbery and theft charges.

The woman told police she did not know Cooper but described him as "a little, skinny guy, dark-skinned."

A prosecutor also told jurors that sunglasses and a bandana recovered at the crime scene contained Cooper's DNA.

A defense attorney, Kevin Mitchell, claimed the woman's description did not match Cooper and that the victim could not prove she had withdrawn money from a bank prior to the robbery.

When Cooper was sentenced in August 2014, Superior Court Judge Kevin Smith agreed to a prosecutor’s request for an extended prison term based on the suspect's criminal history. Cooper has been convicted of 15 felonies and 21 lesser offenses since 1982.

The judge, who found “absolutely no mitigating factors,” also noted the robbery had occurred less than 30 days after Cooper’s last release from prison, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Jim Walsh; (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com