Wednesday, July 26, 2000 | 10:52 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Rickey D. Cooper, in prison since 1984 for the shooting death of a man at a liquor store in Las Vegas, is going to get a new hearing to show that a prosecution witness may have been paid by police to lie at the trial.
The Nevada Supreme Court Monday ordered District Judge Mark Denton to hold an evidentiary hearing for Cooper, who was convicted of attempted robbery, attempted murder, battery and murder. He was sentenced to consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole plus 65 years in prison.
Ricky Williams, 25, was shot to death at Bruce's Liquors (H Street and Lake Mead Boulevard) and Will Norman, 58, was wounded in the hand.
Three previous appeals by Cooper have been turned down by the Supreme Court. In his latest petition, Cooper presents a statement from Donnell Wells, who reportedly witnessed the crime. Wells says he was 15 at the time and in the eighth grade when detectives came to his school.
Wells says officers told him what they wanted him to say and added he would be rewarded. After his testimony at the trial, he says he received $100 and police took him to the Meadows Mall, where he bought a pair of K-Swiss shoes and Levi's brand jeans.
Wells says now he never saw Cooper shoot the victim. And a brief filed by the defense says Wells could not have identified the shooter because the assailant was in a moving car and it was dark.
The Supreme Court said the new appeal by Cooper was filed late. Judge Denton, the court said, will have to determine if there was a valid reason for the petition to be brought 11 years after Cooper was convicted. The court said Denton must also decide if there is adequate evidence to overturn the conviction.
It said Judge Denton made an error in denying the new petition without conducting an evidentiary hearing.
The court also said Denton, in denying the petition, failed to make "any specific findings of facts or conclusions of law regarding the credibility of Donnell Wells' recantation or the materiality of Donnell Wells' testimony at trial."
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