Gateway murder trial

There are over 30 pages of instructions to the jury.

State is alleging Cooper possessed a firearm while killing Michelle – so her count also includes a count of possession of a firearm.

Garber objected to the use of and/or language and the judge agrees. They decided to take out the and and the slash so it will read “or”

Defense asks for no special instructions.

The changes will be made and the parties will be able to look it over again before tomorrow.

Court adjourned until 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Closing arguments expected to be 75 minutes each side.

And we’re adjourned.

The state and defense are going over the jury instructions page by page.

cooper is charged with burglary, felony murder and premeditated murder, aggravated by the use of a firearm

Lesser includes are second degree murder and manslaughter, which means the jury won’t have to come back with first degree murder or nothing. They can come back with second degree murder or manslaughter.

Count one is the murder of Steven Andrews, count 2 is murder of Michelle.

They’re removing proof of posession of a firearm from the instructions.

Tomorrow we’ll have closing arguments and instructions for the jury’s deliberations.

We will recess until 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Once closing arguments and instructions, jury will be sequestered until deliberations complete.

The jury will be put up in a hotel. They need to make appropriate arrangements if the deliberations go into a second day.

Closing arguments, instructions then deliberations tomorrow.

State has no rebuttal

Jury will be discharged.

State asks for the judge to deny the defense’s motion for an acquittal.

Motion for Judgement of acquittal denied

Again wants a judgement on acquittal on the same grounds as earlier.

Looks like jury may be released for the day and we’ll have closing arguments tomorrow morning.

Defense entering into evidence exhibits 1-34, 44,45,46

DEFENSE RESTS

They’re now reviewing state’s exhibit 92. State will have a rebuttal witness it appears. (this is the letter Fred wrote to kellie in which he says the relationship with Michelle was not physical)

jury leaving the room now

“so did you just want the jacket nice and clean before handing it over to detetives”

When being questioned he was told his story didn’t make any sense and Fred had said that was his story.

“I was not truthful when talking to detectives”

“Let’s use the right words, you lied”, “yes I did”

Kunasek is asking Cooper about whether or not he knew Kellie was having an affair. He keeps getting Cooper to say  “That was a lie”

When they started asking about his whearabouts, he says he didn’t think he was a suspect.

“Was that a truth, or was that a lie?” “That was a lie” (repeated for many different statements he made earlier to detetives)

Kunasek is going through all of the statements Cooper said to detectives and is asking was that a truth or was that a lie, and Cooper has to respond, that was a lie.

He’s admitting to lying about knowing about the affair, where the Andrews live, where he was the night of the 26th, about knowing Michelle and Steven.

He said he never had a reason to suspect Kellie was having an affair – he said that, but admits it was a lie.

State is bringing up when Cooper started realizing he was a suspect (during his interview with detectives)- yet he never told about his calls with Michelle.

When he said he gets agitated very quickly in his statement. Is that an accurate statement? He says yes when it involved Kellie.

He’s not answering the question, it would be easier with Steven out of the way.  He said he didn’t look at it that way.

He says they had worked through similar problems before.

On December 29th during his statement he knew he was a suspect. He again said he didn’t know Kellie was having an affair until he went to the sheriff’s office on Dec 27 for questioning. Again he says he lied.

Saying it hit him out of left field was a lie (informed about the affair).

He admits he lied about ever being in Gateway.

State’s exhibit 50 - Someone driving a motorcycle through 7-11. Detectives asked him about it and he denied the person in the surveillance video was him.

He told detectives, that’s not me. Cooper now admits that was a lie. He said the video isn’t that great so it’s hard to tell, but the time fits.

In his statement he denied he came in at 3 am on December 27th he told detectives it was impossible.

State confirms he received all of the discovery documents in this case and it has been nearly three years since the incident. He’s had an opportunity to review all of that evidence. (Nothing further said about this)

Michelle always called him at work, he never called her on 407 area code. The 407 phone was his and Kellies. They shared the phone.

He says Kellie had gotten a company phone a couple weeks prior.

He says he took the 407 phone with him to work.

He says Michelle knew he worked at Sunsports and that’s why she called there. She called at least four times. He would be notified of a phone call over a PA system.

To set up their meeting on December 26th – they made contingency plans – at least one.

They met in the Toyota 4-Runner in the driveway of the Andrews home. He says Michelle came out in a workout outfit. He says she was wearing the blue slip (the one with the bloody hand print which is in evidence). They were out there 25 minutes or so.

The phone call to Kellie Ballew on January 11th. He says the detectives told him DNA evidence linked him to the scene when he was arrested. He says he didn’t question detectives. He said the detective was untruthful on the stand.

When he said it was DNA evidence, the detective didn’t tell Fred Cooper what the evidence was or where it was found.

When they got to Sheriff’s headquarters he called Kellie. He says he figured they knew about his involvement with Michelle and he wanted to be the one to tell Kellie.

“So you’re trying to be a stand-up guy”?

“I knew when they arrested me the only possible way was through Michelle because that was the only contact I had”

“I didn’t need to explain anything”

“I did not kill Steven and Michelle”

You only explained DNA evidence on January 11th, not before.

States evidence 92 – A letter he wrote to Kellie. It was written January 21, 2006. Ten days after his arrest.

In the letter Fred wrote to Kellie, he wrote “the meeting was real but the physical aspect was not” referring to his meeting with Michelle.

He says the reason he didn’t tell detectives about his relationship with Michelle is because he didn’t want Kellie to find out.

He’d had the jacket two years and the jacket liner was ripped for the last six months.

“And you just happened to decide on December 29th to take the liner out?”

He had the camo jacket in his motorcycle trunk and not the work trunk?

Mr. Peters testified Fred asked to run an errand and came back 25 minutes later with a camouflage jacket. Then he began cleaning it. Fred says Mr. Peters was not truthful with his testimony.

State, Are you keeping track of the number of lies you’ve told in this case? You lied to Ryan, Kalstrom, Ramsey, Kellie?

“Yes I did”

State – before testifying today, he raised his right hand and swore to tell the truth. Before, when speaking to detectives, he also swore to tell the truth.

Did you tell Kellie you were trying to get hair out of your jacket? He says she lied on the stand.

Where’s the card Michelle gave you? He says it was put in storage. He wants to know why he would give it to anybody.

He says everything of his in storage was thrown away after his arrest (by Kellie).

He said he didn’t know her password for email or erase text messages. How did he know about the song? He says he doesn’t remember the incident and he questions Kellie’s testimony.

“Are you qustioning Kellie Ballew’s testimony?” “Definitely”

Defense redirect

Fred says his sister asked for his belongings and Kellie gave his sister one box.

The camo jacket and the liner – he had an opportunity to go into the privacy of another stall to clean it, yet he didn’t.

He also says he didn’t use the hose outside of Sunsports to clean his bike before turning it over to detectives.

About lying to detectives – he says the first night he was there, he thought Kellie really did need an alibi. He also didn’t want her to know about his contact with Michelle (and sexual contact from Michelle).

The information about the affair came from one source – Michelle.

About the letter he wrote to Kellie. He says he noticed a change in Kellie’s demeanor after his arrest. So he wrote the letter saying he lied about the physical contact with Michelle.

He says Kellie wasn’t cooperative about him maintaining a relationship with his daughter. He didn’t want something he might have done used against him with his daughter.

He says Kellie was upset about his relationship with Michelle and was using that against him in the custody.

“Did you hurt these people?” “No I did not”

Prosecution redirect

Questioned about, again, his lying to deputies about his affair. He says he really thought Kellie needed an alibi. He says he really did think she needed an alibi but he didn’t think she could have done it.

Then the prosecution said he got all of his information regarding the information from Michelle. “We can’t substantiate that information from Michelle can we?”

“No”

No defense redirect

Fred released from the stand.

After det Ryan left, he went to the store for a bit, that’s when he realized his jacket was in the trunk of his bike.

He says under the seat of the bike, there wasn’t wiring related to the bike. it was actually a phone charger.

He says he didn’t remember the jacket was in the bike.

When he pullled out the jacket, he then started cleaning the jacket because his bike has no windshield. He noticed it was really direty He was cleaning  and street grime off his jacket (using contact cleaner – something for electrical purposes).

He says the road grime doesn’t come off in the wash.

The liner was separating from the jacket on the inside seam. He removed the liner because it was a nuisance. He said the liner snagged on his gloves all the time.

He says he wasn’t trying to hide the fact he was cleaning his jacket. The last stall had a wall partition (rather than hiding and cleaning he says he did it out in the open).

He says when he threw away the liner he threw it on top, didn’t try to hide it.

The entire time Cooper has been on the stand, Mr. and Mrs. Kokora have been staring at the floor. They haven’t looked up once. Only Mr. Andrews has actually looked at the defendant on the stand.

Defense is asking about the helmet bag. He says he’s never used it as a back pack. He says it couldn’t be used that way.

On the 29th, Det Ryan asked him to go back to the Sheriff’s Office.

That’s when he met with detectives Ryan and Ramsey.

He was asked again if he suspected the affair and he said no. He also said he’d never been to the Andrews. He told them no.

“At that point I’d already made a statement and if I’d changed my statement at that point they’d really look at me as far as a suspect.

“I knew they were questioning me, but I didn’t feel I would ever be a suspect.”

What about him coming home at 3 a.m. He told detectives it was impossible he was out that late. He says at the time he didn’t think it was possible that he was at the beach that late and arrived home that late on the morning of December 27th.

Detectives asked him about the affair and about the 7-11 video.

He lied about the 7-11, he says, because he didn’t want to tell about meeting Michelle, he says if they had known what was going on he would’ve been a suspect.

On Dec 29th he didn’t feel he could tell them about the contact with Michelle.

He didn’t want Kellie to find out.

On Dec 31st, detectives had a search warrant and searched his home.

Kellie continued to live with Cooper even after the murders.

Kellie says she was fired from her job and had to move back to the Orlando area and he says Kellie asked him to move back to the area with her.

“I was in agreement. I didn’t want to be away from my daughter that far of a distance, so I was fine with moving back.”

He says he quit Sunsports. When he gave his notice, they didn’t have intentions to fire him.

He noticed the open surveillance and talked to the officers. He said he gave detectives the names and addresses of where they would be. He says he continued to communicate with officers every time he was leaving and would tell them where they were going and would give them directions.

He even told them if he was going to the bathroom (if they were at a restaurant or bar).

On January 11, 2006 he says he knew he was going to be arrested because a detective had called an hour and a half before. The det said they were ending surveillance and wanted to take photos of him. He says he knew they were going to arrest him.

He went outside (det called and asked him to come outside).

He didn’t resist in any way.

He was driven to Fort Myers, once here, he was given a phone. He called Kellie and spoke with her.

Detective Ramsey gave him the phone and listened.

He said he had not been honest about knowing Michelle and that he’d met her the night of the murders and they’d had sex that night.

He says Kellie never knew he and Michelle were in contact.

He says after he was arrested, he figured they’d found out (detectives) about the contact with Michelle, ie…the sex. He says he didn’t want anyone else to tell Kellie about it.

He went in front of a judge the next day, January 12.

On December 27, detectives took pictures of his hands. He says he had a nick on his knuckle. He said he got them all the time – and he got them at work.

He still didn’t tell detectives about his phone calls with Michelle because he didn’t want Kellie to find out.

Didn’t want anything to interfere with his contact with his daughter.

He then drove home, says he sets the alarm on his phone so woke up at the normal time (around 6:30 a.m.)

He says he checked on Carly, then went into Kellie’s bedroom.

He says his clothes were still in the main bedroom and left Kellie a note, then went to work.

He left around 7 am.  He gave himself an hour to get to work. Says he liked to get to work early. (he says it’s because of season)

He arrived around 7:40 a.m. He says that was the average time he got to work (this is all on Dec 27th)

Says that’s the average time he got there

He left early – around 3 p.m.

When he got home he saw Claudia go out their back door as he went in. He said Kellie was upstairs still.

He believed Kellie had spent the day with her friend Claudia and they were going back to Claudia’s.

He says he got home and opened some presents left for him. He turned on the TV and saw the news reports of the murders of Steven and Michelle.

He then tried to call Kellie.

During that conversation he says Kellie asked him to go to Claudia’s and drive her back home.

At some point he confirmed what he saw on TV.

He says he left on his motorcycle and headed to Claudia’s house to pick up Kellie, when he arrived, he found out Kellie had already left.

He says he can’t hear his phone when riding his motorcycle, then realized Kellie had called.

He then went back to his home at Village Walk. That’s when he got a call from Kellie again. (That’s the call from Kellie while she’s at the sheriff’s office and asks him to come down to give her an alibi)

That’s the phone call when Cooper said he’d be right down to give her an alibi.

“I told her I’d be right down”

He says he went to the sheriff’s office and met with Det. Ryan and Det  Kalstrom. That’s when they recorded his statement – on December 27th.

Detectives asked if he knew of the affair and he said no. He said he didn’t leave Village Walk. Why did he lie?

He says because Kellie asked him down for a specific reason – to give her an alibi. He says he couldn’t give her an alibi if he wasn’t home.

They asked if he’d ever been to Gateway or knew where the Andrews lived. Why? He said he knew he’d not done anything to Steve and Michelle. He didn’t feel it was relevant.

He says he lied about the affair, “I did not want my and Michelle’s contact to be known and get back to kellie. It was another thing we wouled have to overcome our relationship was already unsteady. It was just not something i wanted her to find out.”

To him the worst thing that could hapen was Kellie to find out he had had sexual contact with Michelle. He says he didn’t think he’d be a suspect.

He says he had the gun three to four years. He was living in Indiantown when he bought the gun. He says Kellie was not comfortable at home, there was wildlife (it was a rural area). He says she would hide in the bathroom and say someone was on the front porch.

He says Kellie was afraid of wildlife.

He says when they moved to Orlando, the gun was put in storage. He says when they moved to Fort Myers it was in one of the boxes. He saw it again in November 05. It had been in storage a couple of years.

He says it was on the top shelf of the master bedroom closet.

“No I never intended on using that weapon on myself or anyone else.”

He says it was a very emotional time and he says Kellie had called him and asked him to get rid of the gun.

He says he took it to Wiggans Pass and threw it in the water. (the gun)

He has been convicted of a felony five times. It was in his late teens.

Kellie knew of the convictions. They started dating soon after that.

On Dec 27th – after he gave a statement, he says the detectives followed him to search his home. He says they were there a little over an hour.

On Dec 28th he went to work. On Dec 29th he also went to work.

He says sometime on the 29th Ryan came out to his work looking for the camo jacket. He says he told Ryan it was at home in the garage. He signed a consent to search.

He and Kellie went back home, his daughter, niece and mother were all at the home.

On the 26th, he did some more searching for apartments online. He says it had been about a week since he and Kellie had split up. He says he didn’t even know Kellie’s email address, that he didn’t know the password to her account.

He says he never tried to get messages from Kellie’s phone.

He says he was on the computer and Kellie was sitting on the bed talking to her when she got a phone call. He says Kellie stepped out on the balcony to take the call.

Kellie said she was going to go to Claudia’s for while. She left around 8 p.m.

She got back right after 10 pm he says.

He still planned on trying to meet Michelle that evening.

He says Kellie wanted to go to bed so he shut the computer down and left. He was going to meet Michelle, so he left the home around 10.

He didn’t see Michelle when he got there. He stayed there a few minutes.

He says Kellie called at some point, but couldn’t hear the phone. When he stopped at the 7- 11 he realized he had missed a call. So he called Kellie back.

During that conversation, she asked where he was. He said he had to ride and clear his head.

When Michelle didn’t show up after a few minutes, he went to the Andrews home.

As he was pulling up she was coming out of the house. They sat in the vehicle in the driveway (Toyota 4-Runner) because it was cold. He says he was wearing the camo jacket. She had on sweat pants/matching jacket. Says it was dark blue.

They spoke that night.

Michelle was upset, she said Steven was in fact having an affair with Kellie and it was sexual.

It was the first time it was confirmed the affair had become sexual.

He wasn’t 100 percent sure until Michelle told him.

Michelle was very upset, very emotional.

They were trying to comfort each other as much as possible. They were going through the same thing in their relationships.

He says, “it’s one of those things that just happens. We were dealing with a lot of the same emotions. Missing the same things from our relationships.”

Missing compassion, not getting from their significant other.

He says they had sex that night in the back seat of the vehicle.

He says he didn’t ejaculate inside of her, based on his experience, and that’s how he did it with Kellie Ballew. Says it was his particular preference and method of birth control.

He says she was wearing a blue slip underneath the jogging suit.

They were there 25 minutes to half an hour.

He says Michelle was very upset and they just comforting each other.

They were still trying to save their respective relationships.

He says she gave him a card, something along the lines of hang in there…

He says he isn’t sure what time he left Gateway. He thinks he left somewhere around 11 pm.

After he left Michelle, he says they agreed to maintain contact.

He says he left Michelle’s and ended up on Fort Myers Beach. He says he went right to the pier. He says he drove down to one of the beach access points (drove up on the catwalk) and parked up there.

He still didn’t think his relationship with Kellie was over.

He isn’t sure how long he was at Fort Myers Beach, wasn’t keeping track of time.