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June 15, 2009

Businessman set to be sentenced Thursday

Cooper faces up to 10 years in prison in connection to intoxicated assault in March 2008

By Rich Flowers News Editor

Athens businessman Kenneth “Pete” Cooper is scheduled to learn Thursday whether he’ll serve jail time for a March 2008 drunk-driving accident.

Cooper pled guilty before 3rd District Judge Mark Calhoon in April to two counts of intoxicated assault. Since the plea did not involve a plea bargain for any specific punishment, Cooper could get probation, or he could still get up to 10 years in the penitentiary for each count.

During the sentencing phase Monday, Christy Arlien Adams, 41, testified about the effects of the injuries she sustained in the collision. In addition, Adams’ father, 75-year-old Bill Day of Leagueville, told how the wreck had changed his daughter’s life.

Calhoon also heard arguments from District Attorney Scott McKee and defense attorney Robert Perkins. After hearing from both parties, Calhoon delayed formal sentencing to allow him time to read letters submitted by the defense concerning Cooper’s character.

On March 23, 2008, Cooper — a partner in the Cooper Funeral Home of Athens — was driving a Chevrolet Suburban that collided on with Adams’ Plymouth Voyager on Loop 7 in Athens. Cooper, Adams and Franklin Pinkerton — a passenger in Adams’ vehicle — were all injured.

Police said Cooper’s blood alcohol level was .26 at the time of the wreck — more than three times the legal limit in Texas.

Day said Monday his daughter had been healthy enough to work as a phlebotomist before the wreck, as well as care for her three grandchildren.

“She’s not the same person now physically or mentally,” Day said.

Day recalled seeing Adams in the intensive care unit at East Texas Medical Center Tyler.

“I saw her all wrapped up like a mummy,” Day said. “She had multiple bandages on her.”

Adams, testifying from a wheelchair, said she has no memory of the life-altering accident and only sketchy recall of her life before the wreck.

“I don’t remember her, that woman I’m supposed to be,” Adams said. “It’s hard on everybody because I’m not the woman they remember, either.”

As part of her testimony, Adams read from a letter she had written to Cooper. In it, she urged Cooper and others to refrain from driving under the influence of alcohol.

“You don’t realize whose life you could be changing,” Adams said.

McKee asked Calhoon to render a sentence that would send a message to anyone drives while intoxicated.

“Consider the lives that this has affected,” McKee said. “We’ve put it on the court and ask you to make an appropriate decision.”

Perkins painted a picture of Cooper as a respected citizen who made one horrible mistake. Perkins said Cooper had never been in trouble prior to the wreck and could still be of use to the community

“I don’t think it’s fair to make that one snapshot from his life define Pete Cooper,” Perkins said. “This is a man worthy of redemption.”

The court will reconvene Thursday at 1:30 p.m. for Calhoon’s decision.

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