Cooper v. Chapman, No. 18-1391 (6th Cir. 2020)
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In 1978, McKillop was brutally murdered. In 2006, Lolley, McKillop’s former neighbor, told police that Cooper had confessed to killing McKillop. On March 3, 2010, after multiple interviews and while in custody, Cooper admitted that he had witnessed McKillop’s murder and that he knew who had tied him up and shot him, but denied that he had done it., declaring: “I’m not saying no more.” He accused the detectives of having already concluded that he was the murderer and made statements indicative of his desire to be arraigned. The questioning did not stop. Finally, Cooper admitted that he and Bollis forced McKillop to the floor, where McKiddie shot McKillop in the head. Although the trial court declined to suppress the March 3 statements, the prosecutor agreed not to use proof from that interview affirmatively. However, during his questioning of the officer who conducted the interview, defense counsel referenced certain statements made by Cooper at the March 3 interview and moved for the interview’s admission into evidence.
Cooper was convicted of first-degree felony murder and sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, the Michigan court found that Cooper had waived any challenge to the admission of his statements from the March 3 interview under Michigan’s invited-error doctrine. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of Cooper’s petition for federal habeas relief. The Michigan trial court’s admission of the confession was not an error that rose to the level of actual prejudice.
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