Students from Mississippi University for Women gathered in Cochran Hall on MUW’s campus Monday to witness three Mississippi Court of Appeals judges hear the appeal of Randall Cooper, Jr., who was convicted of first degree murder in Lowndes County last year.
The trial was the second of two Court of Appeals cases heard on campus where university students and other members of the public could sit in on proceedings the public often knows little about, Director of Legal Studies Wesley Garrett said.
“Because we have a large number of students who are interested in the law and hoping to pursue a position in the legal field, we thought it was very important for them to see how the appellate system works, how arguments work, decorum in the courtroom, how that works,” Garrett said.
It was Appellate Judge Jack Wilson’s idea to hold proceedings at MUW. Judges sometimes hear appeals on university campuses to give students a chance to learn more about the Court of Appeals. When Wilson learned they had not yet heard a case at MUW, he reached out to university attorney Karen Clay to organize a trip from Jackson to Columbus for himself, Judge Jim Greenlee and presiding Judge Donna Barnes.
“They rolled out the red carpet for us,” Wilson said.
The judges first heard a will contest from Tallahatchie County Chancery Court at 11 a.m. Cooper’s appeal followed at 2 p.m. About 40 students attended one or both of the proceedings, Clay said. Judges answered questions from students following each session — questions ranging from how long it takes judges to prepare for cases to the definitions of legal jargon the attorneys used in court.
Between the two hearings, the judges had lunch in Hogarth Cafeteria with the students, getting to know them and their professors.
Quaneceya Johnson, a junior majoring in legal studies, was excited to see the things she learned in class play out in the civil case.
“One of the classes that I took kind of equipped us for doing trials at the appellate level,” she said. “So hearing the appellate briefs and all that — and just sitting here knowing the stuff — was kind of amazing.”
But it wasn’t only legal studies majors and law school hopefuls who attended the proceedings.
“I’m part of a mock trial team simply because of interest,” freshman English major Walker Winter said after the criminal case. “God opened the door for me to join this team, so now my interest is piqued. I’m trying to learn all that I can.”
Lowndes murder appeal
Cooper was convicted in Lowndes County Circuit Court of first degree murder in the shooting death of 23-year-old Virgil Harris and sentenced to life in prison in May 2015. During Appeals Court proceedings Monday, public defender Hunter Aikens argued Cooper believed himself to be acting in self-defense when he shot Harris and that jury instructions in Cooper’s trial were misleading and confusing.
He asked the court to either grant Cooper a new trial or sentence him on manslaughter charges instead.
Cooper reportedly killed Harris in Columbus in December 2013 after a dispute in a friend’s vehicle. The victim was apparently exiting the car when Cooper shot him several times in the back.
Aikens argued the victim was armed and behaving erratically in the vehicle the night of the shooting and that Cooper was defending himself when he shot Harris. Special assistant attorney general Ladonna Holland represented the state and argued the victim had never posed a physical threat.
After arguments, the court was adjourned. The Court of Appeals has 270 days following the filing of the final briefs in the case to issue a ruling in the case.
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