Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Keisa Yvette Cooper

 

Charge:

Patient abuse

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2004

Year Convicted:

2005

Year Cleared:

2008

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Michigan

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Keisa Yvette Cooper, Ericka Nichole Jackson, and Tahirah H. Shakur were codefendants wrongly convicted of patient abuse for clowning around while getting an 88-year-old deceased patient ready for transport to a funeral home. Among other things the three women patted the woman's hand, saying "wake up", and they posed for cell phone pictures with the body. On appeal Michigan's Court of Appeals overturned their convictions in August 2008, ruling unanimously that they committed no crime because the woman was dead and therefore no longer a patient, which is defined by state law as a "live individual.""

Conviction Caused By:

Misinterpretation of the statute by the trial judge.

Innocence Proved By:

"On appeal Michigan's Court of Appeals overturned their convictions in August 2008, ruling unanimously that they committed no crime because the woman was dead and therefore no longer a patient, which is defined by state law as a "live individual.""

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"People v. Shakur, 760 NW 2d 272, 280 Mich. App. 203 (MI Ct of Appeals, 2008)"

Information Location 1:

"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15705395419124466219&q=ericka+jackson+Michigan%27s+Court+of+Appeals&hl=en&as_sdt=4,23"

Information Source 2:

"Clowning with corpse ruled not criminal, By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press, August 16, 2008"

Information Location 2:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/NEWS04/808160358

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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