Cox & Hood
City of Richmond, Virginia
Date of Crime: August 31, 1990
Jeffrey David Cox and Stephen James Hood were convicted of
the abduction and stabbing murder of 63-year-old Eloise Cooper, a black
woman. Two neighbors, both blacks, who witnessed the 3 a.m. abduction,
stated the perpetrators were two white males. Police believed the
perpetrators to be Billy Madison and Stephen Hood, but neither witness
identified them in a lineup. Instead, they tentatively identified
Jeffrey Cox, who was included in the lineup because he was a friend of
Madison and because Hood suggested he might have been involved. Both
witnesses said they wanted to see Cox in person to be sure. In a later
lineup, one witness failed to identify Cox, and the other witness was not
asked to view the lineup. Nevertheless at trial, both witnesses
identified Cox as one of the perpetrators. Police believed the other
perpetrator was Madison.
At his trial, Cox testified on his own behalf, along with several alibi
witnesses. Before reaching a verdict, the jury asked the judge several
questions. They wanted to know why Cox was a suspect, why the
scientific evidence – such as the skin and hairs under the victim's nails –
had not been tested, and what happened during the police questioning of Cox. The judge refused to answer any of the questions, and the jury found Cox
guilty. He was sentenced to life plus 50 years in prison.
In 1997 Cox's family hired two new attorneys who discovered numerous pieces
of exculpatory evidence that had been withheld from the defense: (1)
One eyewitness had an extensive criminal past that he had lied about at
trial. (2) Charges pending against the other witness were dropped
after she testified against Cox, suggesting that she had made a deal with
the prosecution. (3) Police had withheld from the defense a “Crime
Stoppers” report containing the eyewitnesses' descriptions of the
perpetrators. The descriptions did not match Cox. (4) Hair analysis showed that
two hairs found on the victim's body were of a different color than Cox's
hair.
The attorneys asked the FBI to investigate the murder. The FBI
investigation reportedly discovered evidence against Hood, including a
possible motive. An acquaintance of Hood, Roberto Steadman,
acknowledged ripping off Hood and Madison in a $100 marijuana deal. He
told Hood he lived with his grandmother, and falsely used the victim's
address as his own address “so no one could trace him.” The victim was
unrelated to Steadman.
The prosecution and Hood's attorney, Steven Goodwin, came up with an
immunity from prosecution agreement for Hood to sign. Goodwin brought
the agreement to Hood and pressured him to sign it without giving him time
to read it. Hood signed the agreement. The agreement contained
proffered statements, allegedly by Hood, detailing Cooper's murder. According to the statements, Hood had driven Madison to confront Steadman,
and after failing to locate Steadman, Madison abducted Cooper and had Hood
drive him to a secluded spot where Madison killed her.
The prosecution then presented evidence in court that the person who killed
Cooper was also responsible for the so-called “Golden Years” murders of
several other elderly black women in which a sexual motive was involved. Since the proffered statements indicated that Madison had killed Cooper due
to his dispute with Steadman rather than for a sexual reason, the state
argued that Hood violated his immunity agreement by providing false
statements. It then proceeded to use the statements as a confession by
Hood of his involvement in Cooper's murder. Hood was indicted for
first-degree murder.
Since Jeffrey Cox had been previously convicted of the murder, prosecutors
found it necessary to exonerate him as it would have been hard for them to
argue to Hood was the killer while they are still maintaining Cox's guilt. In 2001, prosecutors agreed to vacate Cox's conviction and drop charges
against him. The prosecution agreement was unprecedented in that
Virginia bars the introduction of new evidence discovered more than 21 days
after sentencing. Virginia convicts found to be innocent have always
had to seek clemency from the governor. Cox is the first time serving
“innocent” to be exonerated by a court since the 21-day rule was passed. Ironically, the impetus for Cox's exoneration was evidence of Hood's
involvement, which would prove to be false. Cox later received
$750,000 in compensation from Virginia.
In 2002, Hood was convicted of the murder. Years later, Hood obtained
numerous case documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The
documents show extensive evidence that the prosecution was well aware that
its evidence against Hood was false and that witnesses provided false
testimony at his trial. Documents also reveal that several officers in
the Richmond Police Department were suspects in the murder.
Hood subsequently filed a writ of habeas corpus and on Nov. 10, 2009 the
Circuit Court for the City of Richmond ruled in his favor. The Court,
however, declined to review the facts which supported his innocence or the
government's prior knowledge of such innocence. The ruling was based on the
ineffective assistance of Hood's counsel in erroneously and egregiously
allowing the false proffered statements to be used against him. The
prosecution filed a petition for appeal as well as a petition for rehearing. Both were denied by the Supreme Court of Virginia. On April 14, 2011,
following the final ruling, Hood was released from his incarceration.
[5/11]
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References: Washington
Post,
2004 Appeal,
2005 Appeal,
Hood Claim D.D.,
Hood Claim F.F., Hood #3,
Hood #4, Hood #5
Posted in:
Victims of the State,
Virginia Cases
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