00:00:12
Palm Beach is probably one of the richest places in the world. >> Boy, these houses are unbelievable.
00:00:21
It's new money, Donald Trump, Howard Stern, old money, the Fords, the Dodge families.
00:00:31
Here in Palm Beach, you're never at a loss for a story. My name is Jose Lambia and I'm a gossip columnist. Back up.
00:00:39
>> One of the biggest stories ever in Palm Beach was the Willie Kennedy Smith rape
00:00:43
trial. He was cleared, by the way. And then Roxan Pulitzer, a socialite, had a really sorted divorce.
00:00:55
But in 1993, it was the image of an 11-year-old boy testifying about his dad's murder that really captured the
00:01:03
public's imagination. >> I was scared and confused. >> 911. >> Just been a shooting.
00:01:11
>> Just been a shooting. Who was shot? Who was shot? >> Jim Cooney, who was a lawyer, well
00:01:19
known, very popular in Palm Beach County, was killed by his ex-wife, Linda, in front of their two children.
00:01:26
>> My kids are in the closet. I've got a gun. >> Who is she when she arrives in Palm
00:01:38
Beach? >> She's a nobody. She's an ambitious nobody. So, she shows up here. She marries this guy. She's instantly in the
00:01:46
money. The Coonis were amongst the most established families in the Palm Beach area. Great political connections,
00:01:55
lawyers, doctors. >> You're trying to kill me. >> Who did Jim Cooney? Please help me.
00:02:03
>> She shot him three times with a 357 Magnum. >> She claims it was self-defense. That was
00:02:12
an execution. After she had shot a couple times, she actually went up to him and fired off another round. Linda
00:02:19
Cooney was charged with first-degree murder. Kevin's testimony was everything. >> I was just hiding behind my bed.
00:02:30
>> He was the only eyewitness that we had. >> Kevin's testimony exonerated his mother.
00:02:36
So, she was cleared of the murder in Florida. But guess what? 20 years later, I was shocked.
00:02:47
She uses the same gun to shoot her son, Kevin. [Music] I'm Richard Slesinger. Tonight on 48
00:03:03
hours, mommy dearest. [Music] [Music] [Music] Yes. My son, my son has a gunshot wound to
00:03:45
the neck. Kevin. Kevin, are you all right? >> And how did he get this wound? >> Please send a
00:03:53
>> How did he get this wound? >> With her handgun. >> Did somebody else shoot him or did he do
00:03:58
it himself? Hello. Hello. Hello. It was just after 8:30 a.m. and a frantic sounding Linda Cooney was on the
00:04:12
phone with Las Vegas police. >> She didn't say that he had done it. She didn't say that she had done it. She
00:04:18
didn't say that somebody else had done it. >> Her 30-year-old son Kevin lay on the
00:04:22
floor in a pool of blood. >> Ma'am, where's where's the gun? >> There were guns all over the house.
00:04:29
There was ammunition all over the floor. Las Vegas detectives Robert Schmidt and
00:04:33
Lance Landholm. >> We had really no clue to what we had. >> And it was hard to get anything much out
00:04:39
of Linda, the 63-year-old former Palm Beach aspiring social light. >> She looked like a deer in a headlight.
00:04:49
>> Miss Cooney, are you aware that this is being tape recorded? >> Yes, sir. >> Detectives made this recording as they
00:04:55
interrogated Linda on the scene. >> Do you know how he got shot? No. >> Somebody had to have done this.
00:05:02
>> Did you shoot Kevin? >> No. >> How in the world did your son get shot when only you two were in the house?
00:05:09
>> I don't know. >> You don't know or you don't want to know. >> Before being rushed to the hospital,
00:05:16
Kevin told an officer the shooting was an accident. But that's not what detectives were hearing now.
00:05:23
>> Has he tried to hurt himself in the past? >> Has he ever tried to commit suicide?
00:05:28
>> Never went through with it. Okay. Has he talked about it? >> Yes. >> The 11-year-old boy whose testimony once
00:05:40
saved his mother from a murder conviction had grown up, according to Linda, into a troubled man. When he
00:05:47
wasn't threatening to take his own life, she says he was threatening to take hers.
00:05:55
And Linda says at 1:00 a.m. on June 28th, 2011, Kevin attacked her. >> She told us, "He came around from a
00:06:04
corner. He grabbed me. He threw me down." >> And she showed them a bruise on her
00:06:09
chest to prove it. >> Sarah's dead. >> She says they were arguing about Kevin's girlfriend, Karina Taylor.
00:06:18
>> She's an absolute psycho and she will not leave Kevin alone. And Kevin is emotionally unstable as it is.
00:06:25
>> Linda told police when the fight was all over, she went to sleep. And later that
00:06:30
morning, she discovered Kevin laying on the living room floor. >> I did not hear a gunshot. That's the
00:06:36
bizarre thing. I did not hear a gunshot. >> She seemed like a person who was trying
00:06:41
to cover up what had happened. >> Either Kevin hurt himself or you shot him. And that's what we're here trying
00:06:48
to figure out. >> There was no one else to ask. Kevin was now unconscious. So, detectives turned
00:06:54
their attention to the best piece of evidence they had. That .357 Magnum. >> Well, that's kind of strange.
00:07:03
>> To their astonishment, the gun that was used to shoot Kevin was the same gun Linda used to shoot and kill his father
00:07:12
nearly 20 years earlier in Palm Beach. >> The serial numbers were an exact match.
00:07:17
>> Is that surprising to you? It it shocked me to no end. >> Las Vegas prosecutors Shannon Clower and
00:07:24
Michael Stodder couldn't imagine why after Linda Cooney was acquitted of killing her ex-husband, she wanted her
00:07:32
gun back. >> You would think that that situation would be so traumatic for you that you
00:07:36
would never want to see that weapon again. >> We needed to dig a lot more into this.
00:07:42
>> They needed to know everything about what happened in Palm Beach to Linda's ex-husband, Jim. There was only one
00:07:49
person in this world who would shoot Jim, and it was Linda. >> Jim's younger brother, Bob, says he
00:07:54
never cared for Linda. Jim was the eldest of eight kids in a prominent Palm Beach family. He grew up to be a
00:08:02
well-liked attorney, but Linda was new to Palm Beach. She was a Midwesterner. Her family had a farm in Wisconsin.
00:08:11
Linda Cooney was an outsider whose goal in moving to South Florida was climb the
00:08:16
social ladder. And with Jim Cooney, she got a way to do that. >> They met at a party in Palm Beach.
00:08:25
>> It's champagne, caviar, you name it. >> Jim's brother, Bob, worried, especially
00:08:30
when he heard rumors of what this beautiful young woman did at her job. She was a legal secretary. One of her
00:08:39
roles at that law firm was to help entertain clients. >> As a gentleman, may I assume that
00:08:45
entertain was in quotes. >> Yes. >> But Jim ran off and married her and they had two boys, Kevin and Christopher. But
00:08:56
the marriage was not working. >> If you talk to Linda, she'll tell you she considered herself to be an abused
00:09:02
wife. >> Linda filed a police report claiming he assaulted her. Jim filed for divorce.
00:09:09
>> She was a scary woman. [Music] But even after the case was settled, the fighting continued.
00:09:17
>> That divorce was literally her worst case scenario. >> Linda wanted more money. Jim, his family
00:09:23
says, wanted more time with his kids. >> He would go to pick up the kids for his
00:09:29
weekend and they would not be there. But if Jim would give her some money, they might appear.
00:09:37
>> How much would she demand to see the kids? >> Jim told me it was usually about $500.
00:09:45
>> Then on February 7th, 1992, Jim arrived at Linda's house with a court order demanding she hand over Kevin and
00:09:54
Christopher for a weekend visit. >> If I shot at him, I don't know if I got him or not. That was the last day of Jim
00:10:02
Cooney's life. >> He was laying on his back, deceased from multiple gunshot wounds. In his right
00:10:08
hand, he was holding a kitchen knife. >> Linda Cooney claimed Jim was coming at her with that knife and she shot him in
00:10:14
self-defense. But Lieutenant Scott Smith did not believe her. >> She had no marks, no scrapes, no
00:10:22
nothing. >> She was arrested and charged with firstdegree murder. >> Our main witness was Kevin Cooney.
00:10:31
Little Kevin Cooney saw his mother shoot his father. >> Yes, it sound loud. >> And he was called to testify.
00:10:39
>> And your ears were ringing. >> Yes. >> He took the stand holding an action figure.
00:10:49
Kevin told police his 8-year-old brother Chris was hiding in the closet while he
00:10:55
was peeking out from a hole in his bedroom door. >> I got really frightened, nervous, and
00:11:02
scared. >> He could see something in his father's hand before the shooting, but he wasn't
00:11:08
sure it was a knife. >> He said could have been a key. Could have been a knife. He didn't know. But
00:11:13
he did know for certain that after the shooting, his father's hand was empty. >> Something just didn't seem right.
00:11:23
>> Police think Linda planted a knife in Jim's hand after she killed him to make
00:11:28
it look like he was attacking her. With Jim dead, she'd have the kids all to herself.
00:11:34
>> The children were her lifeline. >> The kids were the key to the riches of the Coonis.
00:11:39
>> Correct. They were beneficiaries of Jim Cooney's milliondoll life insurance policy.
00:11:48
>> But it was the timing of this very dramatic 911 call that may be the most damning evidence.
00:11:56
>> He tried to kill me. Please. She's got a knife. >> Before Linda spoke to 911, she tried to
00:12:02
call her friend, a lawyer. >> What' you make of that? Strange. And police say even before she was arrested,
00:12:09
Linda began convincing Kevin that he saw that knife in his father's hand. >> I think she had planted something in his
00:12:17
head and he knew he saw something. >> You saw something in your dad's right hand?
00:12:26
>> Yes. >> Was it dark or shiny? >> It had a glary shine. And while Kevin never testified that he actually saw his
00:12:38
father wielding a knife, the implication was enough. >> I think we lost the case at that point
00:12:45
in time. >> The defendant is not guilty. >> It took the jury just hours to determine
00:12:51
Linda Cooney was not guilty of murder. >> Tonight on Hard Copy, >> she gave only one sitdown television
00:12:59
interview. It was to the tabloid program Hard Copy. Is Linda Cooney a murderer? >> No. No, I'm not.
00:13:08
>> Definitely not. >> What are you? >> I'm a mother who defended herself and her children.
00:13:16
>> But not everyone in Palm Beach saw it that way. >> She was always considered a murderer.
00:13:22
She knew she had to start over. So, Linda packed up the boys and moved to Las Vegas.
00:13:33
>> She understood that you can move into Vegas and nobody's asking questions. >> And no one did until police arrived at
00:13:40
her home and discovered her son was the latest victim of that 357 Magnum. [Music]
00:14:02
After he was shot in the neck, Kevin Cooney lay partially paralyzed and unconscious. And no one could explain
00:14:10
how he got shot, not even his mother. >> Somebody has to tell the truth. And Linda Cooney wasn't doing that.
00:14:18
But 3 days later, Kevin woke up and told a story most people did not expect. >> When he wakes up, the first conscious
00:14:28
words are, "No, mom. I'm afraid of mom. Mom shot me." >> We also have an unbiased witness. Kevin
00:14:40
was no longer saying it was an accident and prosecutors say he repeated that statement that his own mother shot him
00:14:48
to several nurses. >> He was very anxious and appeared to be scared. >> That did not surprise Kevin's
00:14:54
girlfriend, Karina Taylor. >> I've lived in fear of this woman for a very long time.
00:14:59
>> Karina began dating Kevin in 2011. She was a rising star in the mixed martial arts fighting world. While Kevin
00:15:09
made good money as an amateur costume designer, but Karina says one thing Kevin couldn't mask was his fear of his
00:15:17
mother. He told me she had issues with his girlfriends in the past and that she was crazy and that she didn't like when
00:15:25
he would date people. Karina says Linda never approved of her cage fighting or her background,
00:15:32
especially the fact that Karina had once briefly worked at what is politely called a gentleman's club.
00:15:40
>> She told me that their family would never accept me and stay away from our family.
00:15:45
>> To make sure she got the message, Karina says Linda had given her a warning. She
00:15:51
had expressed to me that she carried a handgun in her purse at all times and she wanted me to know that.
00:15:57
>> And the warning worked. >> So, you're a mixed martial arts fighter and you were afraid of this woman.
00:16:05
>> Yes, I am not Superman and I cannot bounce bullets off of my chest. >> Linda Cooney is extremely dangerous.
00:16:12
>> Kevin's former girlfriend, Clarita Kendall, says she also felt threatened by Linda Cooney. Kevin was doing his
00:16:20
best to be the buffer between his mother and I, keeping me hidden. >> That's because Clarita had received a
00:16:28
call from Linda from out of nowhere. >> It was one of the most bizarre conversations of my life. Immediately,
00:16:35
she starts interrogating me about the relationship. She was asking me questions about my age. She's so
00:16:43
verbally abusive. She calls me Shanghai Lily, Tokyo Ro. She calls me a gold digger. She tells me like I'm an Asian
00:16:51
[ __ ] and like I'm after this pot of gold that Kevin has. >> And Clarita says after Linda made those
00:17:00
angry calls, things got a lot scarier. >> I was dropping Kevin off at his house and Linda Cooney pulls up. She jumps out
00:17:09
of the car and she starts beating my car, kicking my car. So she called the police.
00:17:26
Is this your boyfriend ex-girlfriend or well this is his mother? >> Throughout her relationship with Kevin,
00:17:32
Clarita says she was forced to look over her shoulder. >> She became obsessed with me. This was
00:17:39
not stalking. She was hunting me. I wanted to believe that she was overprotective. I wanted to believe that
00:17:46
the problem was was my age. >> And what was the problem? >> That no one could have her son.
00:17:56
Prosecutors say after draining her ex-husband's milliondoll life insurance policy, Linda was financially dependent
00:18:05
on Kevin and his younger brother Christopher, a police officer. They both lived with her. And when Linda felt she
00:18:12
was losing control of her sons, prosecutors say she'd put an end to their relationships.
00:18:22
Linda's purpose was to make the women's lives so miserable that they would no longer want to be with Kevin.
00:18:29
>> But it wasn't working with Kevin's new girlfriend, Karina. Prosecutors say these Facebook messages suggest Kevin
00:18:37
was finally ready to move out. >> He says that he's got to be so careful about how he's going to separate himself
00:18:44
from his mother. He's basically made the decision to leave. >> He was becoming more defiant. But the
00:18:50
prosecutors say as Kevin got more defiant, Linda got more desperate. She sent these text messages to Karina's
00:18:57
supervisor at a nonprofit where she volunteered. >> What are those text messages say?
00:19:03
>> She's a succubus. >> All these different things. >> Succubus. >> Yes. >> We had to look it up.
00:19:08
>> Help me out. >> It's a demon in female form who has sex with men in their sleep to manipulate
00:19:15
them. >> I wanted Kevin to just fix the situation. And investigators believe that's what Kevin was doing with his
00:19:22
mother the morning she shot him. >> That was probably the final straw that he told her, "I'm out of here." And he
00:19:29
meant it that she would not let him walk out that door. >> What do you believe happened?
00:19:34
>> Believe that Kevin was downstairs [Music] that she came down there with the 357
00:19:45
and she shot him. There were a lot of guns in that house. Why do you think she used this one?
00:19:54
>> It's a powerful gun. She knows the effect of it is death. >> And prosecutors say just like in Palm
00:20:03
Beach, Linda did not immediately call 911 for help. >> It shows she wanted him to die. Kevin
00:20:10
was close to death, but Linda waited nearly 16 minutes before dialing 911. Phone records show her first call was to
00:20:20
her other son, Chris. >> It only became more and more apparent to us as the case went on that in fact she
00:20:27
was guilty of this. >> Nearly 3 months after Kevin's shooting, Linda Cooney was arrested and charged
00:20:34
with attempted murder. And then witness-wise, >> prosecutors were more than confident
00:20:41
about their case against her. >> We have Karina, Clarita, Nurse Luna, Nurse Johnson, Nurse Hatch, and Nurse
00:20:49
Irvin, where Kevin makes the statements of, "My mom shot me. I'm afraid of my mom." And then the forensic evidence and
00:20:55
the physical evidence. >> You're just bragging now. >> I am. >> But they still had one very big problem
00:21:02
with their key witness, Kevin himself. We really don't know what's going to come out of his mouth until it actually
00:21:09
happens. [Music] She doesn't have any barriers that the rest of us have. Nobody knows how far
00:21:27
she will go. >> She's probably the most controlling and manipulative person that you could come
00:21:32
across. She scares me. >> She scares you? You're a prosecutor. >> Yes. >> 4 months after a bullet was fired into
00:21:40
Kevin Cooney's neck, two things were clear. Kevin would never walk again. And the case against Linda Cooney might
00:21:48
never fly. Because Kevin had completely changed his story again. He was no longer blaming
00:21:57
his mother for shooting him. >> He says his mother and him were fighting, that he attacked his mother,
00:22:03
and that it was an accident. It was an accident. >> Linda Cooney's attorney, Michael Becker,
00:22:08
says none of this should be a surprise. It's similar to the story Kevin first told police even before he went to the
00:22:15
hospital as he lay gravely wounded. >> He believed he was dying and I believe that it was a dying declaration. His
00:22:24
intent was to go on the record and make sure if he didn't survive that his mother would not be blamed. So, why
00:22:31
would Kevin tell all those nurses he was afraid of his mother and she shot him? >> I think that there are psychological
00:22:39
explanations for why he would have been blaming Linda at that time. >> Kevin was upset his mother was meddling
00:22:44
in his relationship, but eventually Becker says Kevin came to accept responsibility for the shooting.
00:22:53
>> He basically had said, "I was an ass and it was my fault." There have been reports of violence in
00:23:02
the Cooney home for years and there were numerous calls to 911. >> I think that there was a duality to
00:23:09
Kevin. I think that away from the home he was gregarious and friendly, but I think at home he had a lot of anger.
00:23:17
>> Remember those Facebook messages Kevin sent to his girlfriend Karina? He said
00:23:21
he had to be careful, but he wanted to move away from his mother. Becker says a closer look reveals a different story.
00:23:31
>> You've got Facebook messages in print from Kevin where he's actively fantasizing about killing his mom.
00:23:39
>> After one argument with his mother just a few weeks before the shooting, Kevin
00:23:44
wrote, "I wanted to kill her." >> He also said that he had spit in his mother's face and that he was about to
00:23:53
crack. If he is saying I could kill my mother, >> doesn't that support the defense's
00:23:59
argument that he came at her and was trying to kill her? >> Sure. But you have to read the whole
00:24:04
posting. If you read the next paragraph, and this is to Karina from Kevin, it says, "Honey, by the way, I'm just
00:24:10
kidding." >> I don't think that there's such thing as justful conversation about killing your
00:24:16
mother. >> Becker says it was a hint of what was to come. A violent confrontation that ended
00:24:22
with the shooting. His best evidence, the words of the victim, Kevin Cooney, which could be a problem for the
00:24:29
prosecutors. >> His first statement said it was an accident. >> Correct. >> Why is that not in your mind the most
00:24:40
important statement that he makes? It's right at the time of the shooting. >> That's one of the reasons we had to
00:24:45
establish the relationship that him and his mom had. They insist Kevin was terrified of his
00:24:52
mother. Not only did Linda try to control who her sons dated, according to prosecutors, she controlled who they
00:24:59
spoke to. >> She put a child block on my phone number. So, >> I'm sorry. She had control of the phone.
00:25:06
>> Yes. >> And she blocked your number from his phone. >> Correct. >> And how old was he at the time? Pardon
00:25:12
me. >> We had just turned 30. >> She had the passwords. She was the one that could do the blocking of the
00:25:19
texting or the phone calling. She controlled it. They had no control over it at all.
00:25:26
>> Does she love her kids? Do you think? >> Yes, but not appropriately. They need to
00:25:32
grow up, make their own decisions, have bedroom doors, be able >> They don't have bedroom doors.
00:25:37
>> No. >> No. >> The boys bedrooms had no bedroom doors. And I think it's telling because Michael
00:25:43
and I call them boys. And I don't think we do it intentionally. They're men. They're grown men. And yet
00:25:49
the way they're treated are like boys. >> And prosecutors believe it's been that
00:25:53
way since that horrible moment when they were boys. And Kevin saw his mother shoot his father. Prosecutors suspect
00:26:02
Linda convinced Kevin back then that Jim would have killed them all had she not shot him first and that Kevin believes
00:26:10
he owes his mother his life. >> It's been going on for so long. The brainwashing, the manipulation, the
00:26:16
control has happened since they were essentially little little boys. >> There has to be a psychological control
00:26:22
that she had over them that we as normal people don't even understand and and can't really comprehend.
00:26:30
But Linda's lawyer is either very perceptive or extremely creative because he will argue Linda's parenting style
00:26:40
could be her best defense. If Linda is strange, isn't that why Kevin snapped? Because he was tired of dealing with his
00:26:49
strange mom. And I don't deny that Linda is strange. Or perhaps Linda is a lot strange. But does that mean that she
00:26:58
shot her son? [Music] the state of Nevada plif versus Linda could be defended. >> On April 8th, 2014, more than 20 years
00:27:20
after being acquitted of murdering her ex-husband, Linda Cooney is back in court. You all right for the jury?
00:27:28
>> This time for the attempted murder of her son Kevin, who was shot and left partially paralyzed.
00:27:37
>> Linda Cooney, the woman sitting right over there, will use fear, intimidation,
00:27:43
manipulation, control. >> Prosecutor Michael Stoddher opens the state's case. >> And one of the things that you'll hear
00:27:50
that Linda Cooney wants is exclusive control of her children. The state would do everything possible to make you not
00:27:57
like Linda Cooney. >> But defense attorney Michael Becker argues Linda Cooney is not the mother of
00:28:02
the year, but she would never try to kill her son. >> Kevin was to blame for his own injuries.
00:28:11
>> The state calls Christopher Cooney. He's 30 years old. Kevin's brother, Linda's
00:28:17
younger son. Under oath, he will have to detail what he and his mother talked about on the phone just minutes after
00:28:25
the shooting. >> I was trying to ask the questions like, "Where is he hit? What the hell
00:28:31
happened?" And I couldn't I couldn't get a response from her. [Music] He was finishing his shift as a police
00:28:46
officer when his mother called him instead of 911. Their conversation lasted nearly 16 minutes and all the
00:28:56
while Kevin lay dying. Prosecutors hope to show the jury that Linda delayed calling 911, but they say Chris was
00:29:05
determined to put all the blame on his brother. If Kevin was upset or depressed because of whatever relationship woe he
00:29:14
had, he would certainly carry it out on us. >> Chris described his brother as hostile
00:29:20
and violent with a history of losing his temper at home. And then Chris testified
00:29:26
that before trial began, his mother told him exactly what happened right before the shooting.
00:29:33
>> He was in a full-blown rage and uh he struck her. She did say that Kevin was threatening to kill her.
00:29:43
>> According to Chris, the loaded 357 was always kept on the living room floor for
00:29:49
home protection. Chris says his mother told him she believed Kevin was going for the gun, so she grabbed it first and
00:29:57
ran for the door. And that's when Kevin pried it from her. >> The next thing she knew was bang.
00:30:08
and Kevin went down. >> Linda claimed she never even pointed the gun at Kevin and she did not fire it
00:30:17
that morning. >> I don't buy that Linda shot her son. I don't think there's any motive.
00:30:21
>> Well, the argument was he was going to move out. She didn't want to lose him and it was the old if if I can't have
00:30:27
him, nobody can have him motive. >> I suppose that that may work in the movie theater. I I find it hard to
00:30:33
believe. Becker is hoping the jury feels the same way when they hear from Kevin himself.
00:30:40
>> Mr. Cooney, can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Kevin first testified from his hospital
00:30:44
bed. Remember when you listen to him that he's a witness for the prosecution. >> I was just in a rage. I was just so
00:30:54
angry that night. >> As his mother looks on, Kevin takes all the blame for the shooting.
00:31:00
>> I just beat the out of her. I beat her up. I told her as a jury. >> I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry.
00:31:11
>> Prosecutors have told the jury Linda needs to control her sons. But Kevin says he was in control in the house, not
00:31:20
his mother. >> I tell mom what to do. Mom's the kid in this relationship, not me. Mom does what
00:31:28
I say or else mom gets a fist. That's the way it works. He is wanting to make it so much better
00:31:37
for his mom that what does he do? He goes to the extreme to try to get the jury to believe that he's this monster
00:31:44
man. >> Show me with your hand the exact position of the gun. >> This right here.
00:31:51
>> Look at how Kevin demonstrates how he held the gun. Prosecutors say if he held
00:31:56
it that way, the gun would have been fired at an upward angle. But the state's medical expert says the bullet
00:32:04
was fired at a downward angle. >> It was slightly downward and slightly to the left.
00:32:10
>> In all, the state called 26 witnesses, including nurses, who testified that Kevin was afraid of his mother.
00:32:18
>> "Do you don't want to see your mother anymore?" was the first question I asked
00:32:21
him, and he said, "No." He said, "Because she shot me." And prosecutors were allowed to tell the jury that Linda
00:32:27
was acquitted of murdering her ex-husband more than 20 years ago and that the same gun was used to shoot
00:32:35
Kevin. >> State calls Clarina Kendall to the stand. >> But the state saved their most critical
00:32:42
witness for the last day. >> He had something he had to tell me that he felt was very urgent. Kevin's
00:32:50
ex-girlfriend, Clarita Kendall, testified that she visited Kevin and he told her what happened when he was shot.
00:32:58
>> Does he indicate at any time that she picked up or had a gun in her hand? >> It was in her waistband. He says he
00:33:05
started arguing with his mom and was sitting on the couch. >> Kevin never said it was an accident.
00:33:11
Instead, Clarita testified that Kevin told her he was sitting down when he was shot and that could explain why the
00:33:20
bullet was fired at a downward angle. What did you think when you heard that? >> I said, "Bingo. That's the story." And
00:33:28
it matches the physical evidence. I don't believe it. >> But what matters is, >> will the jury believe it?
00:33:35
>> Next witness. Becker has a way to counter Clarita's testimony, and it's not what anyone
00:33:42
expected. >> You solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give this, the truth, the whole
00:33:46
truth, and nothing but the truth. >> Yes. >> Kevin Cooney is called to testify in
00:33:51
person, this time as a defense witness. Were you expecting Kevin to come back as
00:34:00
a >> No. This has got to be the first time I've ever seen a prosecution witness become a defense witness within a couple
00:34:08
of days. >> No, it was completely unexpected. [Music] >> It was just like years ago when Kevin
00:34:17
testified at his mother's murder trial. And now he could save her again. >> She got a hold of that gun. I got a hold
00:34:27
of it and I uh I jerked it up away from her. >> Which way was this gun pointed when it
00:34:34
was fired? >> Down. >> Downward. >> Do you remember testifying Monday that it was pointed upwards?
00:34:40
>> No. >> Prosecutors, it was clear that Kevin had changed his testimony to protect his
00:34:46
mother. >> Your hopes of being released from the hospital. Do you also hope that your mom
00:34:51
will be there to take care of you? >> She can't possibly take care of me. You want her there though, don't you?
00:34:58
>> You know, I don't know how my mom feels about me at this point. >> What if she still loves you? Would you
00:35:02
want her around? >> I certainly would like her around. Yeah. >> Is that why the angle of the trajectory
00:35:10
has somehow changed from Monday to Friday? >> What? >> He loves his mother that much. He wants
00:35:17
her back, which is his bias on that stand. >> Linda Cooney never testified. So, jurors
00:35:24
had only Kevin's firthand version or versions of what happened. Which side does he help? In closing arguments, both
00:35:33
sides want the jury to believe Kevin. >> Somebody when dying will speak the truth. That's what Kevin was doing when
00:35:43
he said it was an accident. >> When he wakes up, his first conscious words are what? I'm afraid of mom. No,
00:35:52
mom. She shot me. >> In the last few hours of this trial, the lawyers have to define Linda Cooney. Is
00:35:59
she a victim? As the defense says, >> Linda had injuries that were inconsistent with anything other than
00:36:07
having been attacked. >> She controlled the phone. They had no bedroom doors. Or is she a controlling,
00:36:16
possessive, vindictive mother who would do anything to dominate her children, even at their own expense?
00:36:23
>> She's not going to lose Kevin to that succubus. Nobody is going to have him if
00:36:27
she can't keep him. I got the call and I just looked at him and I'm like, "We have a verdict."
00:36:50
>> It was just like the Florida case 21 years earlier. The jury came back with a
00:36:56
verdict in Linda Cooney's latest trial in less than a day. Way less. >> I was shocked at at roughly an hour.
00:37:05
>> You may be seated. >> In fact, the jurors spent about as much time eating lunch as they did
00:37:10
deliberating. Has the jury reached a verdict? >> Yes, it has. >> Neither side knew what to expect. The
00:37:16
verdict would likely depend on which version of Kevin Cooney's story >> the jury would believe.
00:37:23
>> Right up about here. >> The clerk will now read the words aloud. >> We the jury find the defendant Linda
00:37:30
Cooney guilty of attempt murder. >> Guilty. The jury did not believe Kevin when he said he shot himself by
00:37:38
accident. And there were a number of other charges against Linda Cooney. The jury found her
00:37:46
guilty of battery with a deadly weapon, guilty of intimidating Kevin before he testified, and guilty of stalking
00:37:56
Kevin's girlfriend, Karina Taylor. Linda's attorney says he knows exactly when he lost the case. I knew going into
00:38:05
the case that when the jury heard about Florida 20 years ago that that was going
00:38:12
to be the single most devastating blow to the defense. My hunch is that the jurors probably felt that whatever
00:38:20
happened in Florida, she must have gotten away with something. Nearly 3 months later, Linda went back
00:38:30
to court for her sentencing. The other women in Kevin's life, Karina and Clarita, were also there, and so was
00:38:38
Linda's son, Chris. >> Dr. Fun, if you come to the witness stand, please be sworn.
00:38:43
>> Jim Cooney's brother, Bob, was there to remind the judge of everything he says
00:38:48
Linda did to his family. >> Linda subjected my family to harassment, threats, injuries, and death. and he
00:38:57
warned the judge that his nephew Kevin could still be in danger if Linda is ever released.
00:39:04
>> Imagine the potential ongoing abuse that Kevin might be subjected to inherent
00:39:09
with visits from his mommy dearest. >> Kevin didn't come to the sentencing, but he sent this note defending his mother
00:39:18
saying, "My mother has been wrongly accused and convicted of crimes she did not commit. It was by my own actions
00:39:26
that I find myself in my present condition. My mother is unjustly incarcerated. And then at last, Linda spoke.
00:39:39
>> I was a battered wife. My sons were battered as well. I have done my best to raise, educate, and protect my sons as a
00:39:47
single mother. >> But Linda blamed it all on Kevin. Unfortunately, my son Kevin carried with
00:39:55
him an anger and rage disorder that he must have inherited from his father. Yet, I always protected, defended, and
00:40:02
loved my son, and I would never have intentionally harmed him. What happened was his fault.
00:40:12
It was an accident. Please have mercy on me, your honor. >> Clearly, prosecutors don't have mercy in
00:40:19
mind. This woman is a clear and present danger to everyone in society and anyone
00:40:25
that crosses her path. If there was a woman who was deserving of the maximum sentence on all charges, this woman is
00:40:31
it. >> The judge didn't go that far. She sentenced Linda Cooney to 13 to 40 years
00:40:38
in prison. You think that even with her in prison conceivably for the rest of her life, they'll still be tied to her?
00:40:46
One would hope that they could they could break off and and live their own lives. Whether it can happen or not with
00:40:51
her, I don't know. >> Do you still think about your nephews who you haven't seen, I guess, since
00:40:59
that trial? >> Yes, I think about them all the time. >> Bob Cooney would like to help his
00:41:04
nephews and wants to be sure Kevin gets the medical care he'll need for the rest
00:41:10
of his life. >> My brother would have done it. I hope there's some things that I can do to
00:41:16
help this story. It's not going to have a happy ending, but maybe I can make it a little bit
00:41:24
happier than it might be otherwise. [Music]