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"Warden Carroll's information, though clearly exculpatory, had not been provided to Cooper prior to trial." They didn't elaborate, but apparently meant he was wearing different shoes when arrested, shoes he owned didn't match the murder scene footprints, and/or multiple footprints indicated more than one killer, not one as prosecutors charged.
Later, however, it was learned that the shoeprint wasn't discovered at the Ryen home, but suspiciously in the SBDSD Crime Lab. In addition, after testifying at trial that he issued Cooper Pro-Ked Dude tennis shoes shortly before his escape, CIM inmate James Taylor recanted in a sworn declaration supporting Cooper's second habeas petition.
It was also learned that because of his medical problem with one foot, Cooper got a "chrono" entitling him to wear special soft-sole shoes, not standard issue for other prisoners, and more proof that the crime scene footprints weren't his.
Overall, "substantial evidence (showed) that three white men, rather than Cooper, were the killers. Some of the evidence was introduced at trial. Some of (it), even though exculpatory, was deliberately destroyed by the SBCSD and was therefore not available for use at trial." More as well was concealed from Cooper and unavailable. "Given the weakness of the evidence against Cooper, if the State had given (his) attorneys this exculpatory evidence it is highly unlikely that (he) would have been convicted."
"Josh Ryen, the only survivor of the attack, first (told) SBCSD Deputy Sharp that the murderers were three white men," and this statement was entered into the June 5 PM police log. Further, "The injuries to the victims were consistent with the use of multiple weapons. The number of victims, and the number and nature of the wounds, led the coroner to conclude that there was more than one killer."
Cooper also had no motive for the killings, and none was established at trial.
When Josh was shown his picture, he said he was not one of the killers. They were White, not Black, as confirmed by clumps of long blond hair found in one of the victim's hands.
A week after the murders, a woman named Diana Roper told police that her boyfriend, Lee Furrow, came home wearing blood-spattered coveralls the night of the crime, and gave them to police believing he was one of the killers. Yet records show they were disposed of without testing. Roper also said, Furrow was wearing a beige t-shirt the night of the incident, apparently the one later found near the scene, stained with Doug Ryen's blood and later claimed to have Cooper's but not when first tested.
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