Acting in the first death-penalty case to come before him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he would not convene a hearing on whether to grant clemency to Kevin Cooper, convicted in four Chino Hills killings in 1983.
While skipping the hearing, the governor has yet to decide on the principal issue raised by Cooper's attorneys in their clemency petition: Whether the death row inmate should be spared execution by lethal injection as scheduled Feb. 10.
The governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said that call would be made soon. Noting that the clemency process is confidential, she could provide no details on Schwarzenegger's leanings, aside from reaffirming the governor's support for capital punishment.
Thompson said the governor declined to schedule a hearing because "both sides have exhaustively documented their cases" in written submissions contained in three thick binders.
"The petition does not present factual questions that require an investigation or a hearing," Thompson said. "The governor has been briefed repeatedly.... This is one of the most serious decisions that the governor has to make, involving a matter of life and death."
Cooper's attorneys are pushing for a reprieve, insisting that key evidence in the case was not properly tested and could exonerate their client. They said that evidence includes blond hairs found in one victim's hand -- Cooper has black hair -- and a pair of bloody coveralls turned over to police by a woman who implicated her boyfriend in the murders.
"It's unfortunate the governor won't give us an extra period of time to present him the additional information," said Lanny Davis, a former Clinton administration special counsel who is assisting with Cooper's defense. "We plead with him to reconsider that decision."
Among those urging Schwarzenegger to grant Cooper a reprieve are actors Denzel Washington, Sean Penn and Richard Dreyfuss, who signed a letter citing uncertainties in the case.
Thompson said she did not know whether the governor had spoken to any of his Hollywood colleagues about the case or whether their input was influencing his thinking.
But she singled out one letter in the clemency documents -- from victim Joshua Ryen, who was 8 years old at the time and the only member of his family to survive the attacks. His father and mother, Douglas and Peggy, his 10-year-old sister, Jessica, and his best friend, 11-year-old Christopher Hughes, were stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the attack.
