By Clarence Walker
The physical evidence seemed clear – Cooper’s blood in the getaway vehicle, a broken key at the scene, and an eyewitness account from Kiondrix Smith placing Yates at the crime. But questions lingered about how the killer obtained access to the Cooper home’s security gate, and whether the victim’s daughter Lori, who had reported abuse by her father and opposed her parents’ demands for an abortion, played a larger role in the tragedy that unfolded that August night in 2002.
As prosecutors prepared to argue that Yates should be tried as an adult, investigators continued pursuing leads that suggested others may have been involved in planning the golf pro’s death. The certification hearing and subsequent trial would test the evidence against the accused teenager and expose the dark undercurrents running beneath the surface of this seemingly idyllic Houston neighborhood.
This is Part 2 of the series by Clarence Walker examining the murder of Gary Cooper and the complex investigation and trial that followed.
Gary Cooper’s Background
Edwin and Ruthesther Cooper welcomed Gary Ronald Cooper into the world on January 28, 1951, in Houston, Texas. In 1993, his devoted father passed away before him.
Gary was a standout athlete at Jack Yates High School. A loving husband, father, son, and uncle, he passed away tragically on August 6, 2002, according to a Houston Chronicle obituary.
Seeking higher education Gary attended Texas Southern University where he declared his love for golf. Gary was a strong advocate for community golf programs. He started playing golf professionally after graduating. He bequeaths to be remembered his mother, Ruthesther Cooper, brother, sisters, and wife of twenty-three years, Wanda, and daughter, Lori Cooper.
Gary Cooper leveraged his professional athletic skills and business acumen. The City of Houston had employed Cooper to manage the city’s biggest and most prominent golf courses, particularly the Gus Wortham golf field. He also managed the city’s Sports Recreation Department. The Inwood Forest Golf Course area where the Coopers resided became a personal paradise for him. He often played alongside some of Houston’s best and wealthiest golfers.
Like most inspiring fathers, Cooper had aspirations for his daughter, Lori, to become a highly skilled professional golfer. For a while, she practiced golf and became considerably good, her mother later reminisced. Lori even practiced with a golf club equipped with a laser light. From the start, she demonstrated proficiency in both golf and ice skating.
Mr. Cooper’s well-intentioned desire for his daughter to have opportunities to excel in life reflected his upbringing in a thriving middle-class Black family in the heart of Houston. Cooper met Wanda King in 1979, and after a whirlwind romance, the couple fell in love and married.
Their daughter, Lori, was born on February 10, 1986. Relatives described Gary as witty and often funny at times. If Gary was around everything brightened up, you knew he was there, a sister recalled. Although Gary was a strict father, he loved his daughter Lori unconditionally. He made sure he did the best for her.
More Witnesses Come Forward
The investigation into Gary Cooper’s murder takes a dramatic turn when Carolyn Marie Jenkins meets with homicide detective Sgt. Yanchak and Officer Curtis Scales. Jenkins reveals explosive information: Lori Cooper, the victim’s daughter, had previously asked an Eisenhower High School student named Andre Reece to kill her father.
On August 26, 2002, Officers Yanchak and Scales visited Westfield High School to interview Reece concerning new developing information about Lori Cooper. A Spring ISD police officer on campus sat in the principal office while the Houston officers questioned Reece about Lori. Reece admitted he’d dated Lori and impregnated her. “She lost the baby after she got hit by her father Gary Cooper. I saw bruises on Lori but I don’t remember when,” Reece told the officers.
Reece further stated Lori never asked him to kill her father. The Spring ISD Officer told Yanchak and Scales that he never saw bruises on Lori and that she was also a repeated truant problem. Detectives suspected Reece was lying and believed Lori may have approached him about killing her father.
In 2003 the case took another turn when the Harris County District Attorney’s Office launched a separate investigation into Kelton Yates’s statements. Former classmates of Lori revealed she had confessed to attempting to poison her father’s insulin with bleach or rat poison.
Meanwhile, a juvenile court judge had certified Yates to stand trial as an adult on a first-degree murder charge that could result in a life sentence.
Following this process, Yates disclosed to prosecutor Mike Trent and an investigator from Trent’s office that Lori Cooper had explicitly offered him and Kiondrix Smith $5,000 to kill Gary Cooper. Yates told police Cooper said she would leave a remote-control garage door opener in the mailbox so he could get inside and kill her father while he was asleep.
Eventually, according to Yates, Lori left the burglar bar keys in his closet where he lived with his mother and sister. It is difficult to explain why Yates, and especially Smith, failed to mention the money proposal to the police at the beginning of the investigation.
Furthermore, two additional students confirmed to investigators that Lori had attempted to manipulate them into killing her father. With both Yates and Smith prepared to testify that Lori Cooper had solicited them for murder, as well as reaching out to others, the prosecutor was fully prepared to charge the teenage girl with the megawatt smile with capital murder.
Under Texas law, a person commits a ‘capital murder for hire’ when the first party employs another to commit murder for remuneration or promise to pay thereof. Capital murder in Texas carries a life sentence or the death penalty. Since Lori had been a juvenile during the offense she would face life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
In a statement to HCDA (Harris County District Attorney) criminal investigator Bill Jordan while an attorney was present Lori Cooper contradicted what she previously told Andre Reece, Kelton Yates, and the city police officers when she said, “I am not pregnant; I’ve never been pregnant.”
Subsequently, a juvenile court judge certified Ms. Cooper to stand trial as an adult on capital murder.
Should the allegations be substantiated, it would suggest that Lori Cooper engaged in deceit and told outright lies to Kelton Yates, creating a false story of being pregnant with his child. Moreover, exploiting Yates’ affection for her, the overriding question becomes: did Lori also fabricate continuing stories that her father abused her and attempted to assault her sexually? If so, this facade appears to have been driven by a hidden agenda to manipulate Yates into committing a criminal act, and the results expose Lori’s disturbed mindset.
A jury found 17-year-old Kelton Yates guilty of murder and he was sentenced to 60 years in the Texas Department of Correction on October 3, 2003. Yates took the stand and blamed the murder on Kiondrix Smith who had told investigators he drove Yates to the Coopers home to stab the pro golfer.
After being indicted by a Harris County grand jury a year later in late 2004, Lori Cooper was granted bond and released from jail.
Veteran criminal defense attorneys Robert Jones and Letitia Quinones represented Cooper. Quinones was a young rising defense attorney ready for a legal fight with the almighty State of Texas prosecutor Mike Trent.
In Cooper’s trial, Quinones proved herself to be sharp, fierce, and unwavering in her determination to save her client from a capital murder conviction.
Dressed impeccably in bright-colored attire she moves through the courtroom with a professional demeanor that shows she’s in control. Quinones possess the ability to question each witness with surgical precision and, at times, disarm even the most experienced prosecutors. When you see this San Antonio native in action you might think you’re looking at a scene from the popular, iconic TV Show Law & Order. But she’s not a TV character.
Quinones is a real lawyer, a lawyer seeking fair justice in an unfair world. Her clients are a top priority. Quinones was later named to the 2023 list of Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and one of the most respected lawyer-ranking services in the country.
Meanwhile, she has gained a reputation for zealous representation and a talent for connecting with juries on a personal and emotional level. She has credited her co-counsel Attorney Robert Jones for teaching her some of the finer points of criminal law.
Jury Trial
Following multiple resets and pretrial motions, a jury had finally been selected to hear the evidence against a young lady accused of murder who once lived a privileged life on a golf course. The State’s trial verses Lori Elise Cooper got underway in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center 179th District Court located in downtown Houston at 1201 Franklin Street on June 20, 2005.
During opening statements, Prosecutor Mike Trent drew a comparison between Lori Cooper and a charming seductress, portraying her as someone who cunningly exploited Kelton Yates’ deep emotional feelings for her and deceptively she would lead him to believe she was pregnant with his child.
The scheme all along was to orchestrate a plan to compel Kelton to commit a heinous act of violence, an act that turned him into a cold-blooded killer.
The Defense Attorneys position was simple: Kelton Yates killed Gary Cooper without Lori Cooper’s involvement because of the volatile episode Gary and Kelton had after learning Gary and his wife agreed Lori should abort Kelton’s child. “You don’t know what I’ll do to you,” Attorney Quinones recalled Gary Cooper telling Kelton, and Kelton responded, “You don’t know what I am capable of.” “I’m not going to sugarcoat, ladies and gentlemen,” Quinones told the jury. “Lori Cooper didn’t like her father a lot.”
“Lori was pretty. Lots of guys liked her and she liked them liking her. Kelton Yates loved her. She liked doing things a sixteen-year-old teenager likes to do, going to parties, and hanging out at football games.” – Defense Attorney Quinones
She asked the jury not to get distracted and allow the prosecutor to take them down side streets. “Evidence will show Lori’s father was strict and that nothing escalated to the point where Lori Cooper decided she would hire someone to stab her father to death in her mother’s presence.”
“Lori Cooper is charged with capital murder. She’s nineteen years old. The punishment is life in prison. Before you convict this child of capital murder–and allow her to spend the rest of her life in prison be sure you have no reasonable doubt, and if you have reasonable doubt, acquit her, send her home.” – Defense Attorney Quinones Opening Statement
Referring to the state’s key witness she characterized the young man as someone willing to blame others. “Kelton Yates is great at blaming others for what he’s responsible for. He blamed his closest friend for the murder he committed.”
Witnesses Testimony
With relative ease, Trent expertly unloaded layers of circumstantial evidence, clearly exposing the intricate details of the murder plot that Lori Cooper allegedly orchestrated and executed in the dark on Maple Tree in the Inwood Forest community.
The prosecution wasted no time in presenting the first group of witnesses, patrol officers, crime scene investigators, a homicide detective, paramedics, the medical examiner, and the key witnesses. Dr. Wolf testified Gary Cooper died from three stab wounds, one stab punctured his heart.
Each witness played a crucial role in establishing a strong case to help the state convict Lori Cooper.
Wanda Cooper, a professional business developer for the home healthcare industry, was Lori Cooper’s mother. Ms. Cooper recalled she married the deceased, Gary Cooper, in 1979. She said when Cooper passed away, he suffered from diabetes and had a degenerative spine. She described her marriage as sometimes good and occasionally the marriage was rocky. It depended on the day, circumstances, and the emotional moments. Led by prosecutor Mike Trent’s questioning, Cooper said there had been talk about the couple divorcing.
Trent: “How would you characterize the father-daughter relationship between Gary Cooper and Lori Cooper?”
Wanda: “An American teenage daughter and father relationship.”
Trent: “Did they get along?”
Wanda: “Sometimes”.
Trent: “When they didn’t get along, what was it about?”
Wanda: “Because he felt she wasn’t focused on golf.”
Trent: “Is it correct to say there were people Gary Cooper didn’t want Lori to associate with?”
Wanda: “Mostly everybody.”
Trent: “Did you have problems with Lori’s friends?”
Wanda: “Most times, no.”
Trent: “How often has Lori played golf with her father?”
Wanda: “They didn’t play together often.”
Trent: “Did Lori make it known whether she liked playing golf?”
Wanda: “In the beginning, she liked it. Then she got tired of playing.” Wanda Cooper made it known when Lori didn’t want to play golf; it became a sore spot between Lori and her father.
Trent: “At the time of this offense, you were in a separate bedroom from her husband.”
Defense Attorney Letitia Quinones quickly objected to Trent’s line of questioning. Judge Wilkinson overruled the objection.
Trent: “Were there any insurance policies on your husband, Gary Cooper?”
Wanda: “Yes, there were.” She explained to the court there had been a policy for $400,000 (double indemnity). Subsequently, the policy was reduced to $200,000.
Trent: “Did you suspect your daughter’s involvement in your husband’s murder?”
Wanda: “Absolutely not.”
Trent: “Did you discover evidence left at your house?”
Wanda: “I did not discover it. But it was discovered.”
Trent: “Who discovered the item?”
Wanda: “Joyce Miles, a friend.”
Trent: “What was the item of evidence found?”
Wanda: “A broken key was still in the lock at the (burglar bar) door.”
Trent: “What action did you take upon finding the key?”
Wanda: “At first I was stunned; I stood there for a moment trying to collect myself.”
The compelling tale of the magic key illustrates how Kelton Yates successfully bypassed the burglar bars to ring the front doorbell. Wanda Cooper took the initiative to contact Houston Police Officer Michael Corley. She knew him from his security work at the Inwood Forest Golf Course. She clearly remembered that a key had been missing.
Prosecutor Trent is determined to prove that Lori Cooper handed the key to Kelton Yates, granting him direct access to enter the porch area and confront her father when he answered the door.
Trent: “You knew Lori’s key was missing, right?”
Wanda: “Yes.”
Trent: “How did you know Lori’s key was missing?”
Wanda: “When Lori called to leave for church on Sunday, her keys weren’t on the countertop where I saw them.” Trent suggested the broken key that had been discovered in the burglar bar door belonged to Lori.
Trent: “Did you suspect the key was Lori’s?”
Wanda: “Afterwards, Yes.”
“Pass the witness,” Trent announced as he sat down to allow the defense to question Ms. Cooper
Quinones: “Has there been any time when you took Lori to have an abortion?” “Was there any time Lori birthed a baby?”
Wanda: “Never.”
Quinones: “So, it is safe to say Lori Cooper was never pregnant?”
Wanda: “Correct”.
Attorney Quinones shifted the conversation to explain what she originally conveyed to the jury regarding the motivation behind the homicide. She highlighted the tense moment when Kelton Yates and the victim, Lori’s father, Gary Cooper, nearly got into a fistfight at Cooper’s home. This altercation occurred during discussions between Kelton’s mother and Lori’s parents about Lori’s pregnancy with Kelton.
The defense team had one crucial mission: convince the jury that Kelton murdered Gary Cooper out of rage and humiliation after being threatened and embarrassed in front of Lori. They needed to discredit the prosecution’s theory that Lori had orchestrated her strict father’s murder by hiring her boyfriend Kelton to do it.
Quinones: “After you left the room and started to return to where Kelton and Gary Cooper were arguing; what is the first thing you remember hearing?”
Wanda: “Gary and Kelton are threatening each other. He told Kelton, ‘You don’t know who I am.'”
Quinones: “And how did Kelton respond?”
Wanda: “He came back with lots of bad language, saying, ‘Motherf….., you don’t know who I am.'”
Ms. Cooper recalled her husband repeated Kelton’s profane language saying, ‘You don’t know who I am.’ Kelton shot a cold stare at the man, and said, “No, you really don’t know who I am.” Gary Cooper replied, ‘You don’t know what I’ll do to you.’
Quinones: “And what was Kelton’s response to that?”
Wanda: “You don’t know what I’m capable of.” Wanda Cooper said she and Lori got between the two to circumvent violence.
Quinones: “So, there was a 16-year-old boy in your husband’s home telling him—Motherf….. you don’t know who I am?”
Wanda: “Yes.”
Kiondrix Smith went into great detail telling the court he drove Kelton Yates to Cooper’s home knowing Kelton’s intent was to murder the man.
“When did you see the gloves and the knife?” Prosecutor Trent asked Smith in a mild tone. “When he came back to the car,” Smith answered in a clear-tone voice. Smith further said he walked to the Cooper’s home with Kelton. And that he heard Mr. Cooper holler out loud, “Kelton.”
Quinones went after Smith with indignation. “You drove a murderer from a murder scene with a bloody knife and gloves, took him home, and dropped him off. You knew about the murder, never called the police; they had to contact you, and you haven’t been charged, have you?”
Smith: “No, ma’am.”
Quinones: “Did the prosecutor ever tell you, you committed a crime?”
Smith: “No, ma’am.”
Kelton Yates, now serving a 60-year prison sentence, took the stand against his former girlfriend Lori Cooper as the prosecution’s star witness.
After stating his name for the record, Kelton Yates, under direct questioning by the prosecutor, recalled that around July 2002, Lori Cooper asked him to kill her father. Both Yates and Cooper attended Westfield High School from 2001-2002. The teens started dating in 2002. Since Yates’s conviction was on appeal the District Attorney’s Office had agreed to grant Yates immunity from future prosecution for any incriminating evidence he gave against himself while testifying against his ex-lover.
At the time, the convicted killer said when Lori first asked him, he turned her down. “I wasn’t feeling it.”
Trent asked Yates, who called Kiondrix Smith’s phone, once he and Smith returned to Yates’s home after Yates murdered Gary Cooper.
Yates: “Lori,” he answered.
Trent: “What did she say?”
Yates: “She asked, did I leave anything there?”
Trent: “Did she say why she was worried about that?”
Attorney Robert Jones objected, saying, “There’s no indication she was worried about anything.”
“Overruled,” Judge Wilkinson told Jones.
Trent: “You can answer.”
Yates: “She said the police were there.”
The jury listened carefully as Yates recollected the moment when Lori initially wanted him to kill her father around 6:AM—because Lori and her mother would take her to school and Gary Cooper would be home alone. Trent re-asked the question with a slightly different variation.
Defense Attorney Jones interjected, “It’s been asked and answered,” your honor. Wilkinson, the judge, sustained the timely objection.
Trent: “How was Lori acting the first time she asked you to handle her father?”
Yates: “She was crying.”
Trent dove into the stories about Lori’s allegations, indicating her father disliked her friends and associates and that he often beat Lori whenever she returned home after hanging out with chosen but undesirable people.
Trent: “Did you believe Lori when she told you, her father tried to sexually abuse her?”
Yates: “Yes, sir.”
Jones again objected to the prosecutor’s leading question of what Yates believed. Surprisingly, Judge Wilkinson sustained Jones’s objection.
When Trent asked Yates if he was sexually intimate with Lori, he replied, ‘Yes’. Focusing on the victim’s life insurance policy, the prosecutor elicited from Yates that Lori had said:
“Life would be better for her and her mother if her father weren’t around, and she and her mother would get lots of money.”
Yates and Trent exchanged dialogue about Lori telling Yates she was pregnant with his child.
“Did you think she was telling the truth?” When Yates answered “Yes,” he went on to describe a confrontation at the Cooper home. He and his mother had visited to discuss Lori’s pregnancy. Yates recalled how Mrs. Cooper had to step between him and Gary Cooper when Gary began shouting at him about his daughter’s pregnancy.
Trial Gets Heated
Fireworks erupted in the courtroom when Kelton Yates firmly denied Lori Cooper paid him to murder her father. Earlier in his testimony, he had clearly indicated that Lori was motivated by the potential financial windfall her father’s death would provide. Frustration etched across Prosecutor Trent’s face as Yates repeatedly stated there wasn’t any money ‘offered or promised to him’ by Lori to commit murder.
Trent sensed trouble. He knew the capital murder charge might fall apart against Lori if he insisted he wasn’t paid to whack her father on August 6, 2002. To convince the jury Lori committed a ‘murder-for-hire, capital murder’, the prosecutor had to show through Yates’s testimony that Lori Cooper paid him or made a future promise to pay him.
Trent: “Did Lori Cooper give you an incentive or promise anything to make you kill her father?”
Yates: “No, sir.”
Trent: “She never did.”
Yates: “No sir.”
Trent: “Do you recall (telling me) she offered you $5000?”
Lori Cooper’s attorney, Robert Jones, hopped from his seat, “Your honor, I object to improper impeachment.” Judge Wilkinson sustained Jones’s objection. A hearing regarding the matter was held outside the jury’s presence. Then Wilkinson called for a break. Meanwhile, Jones reminded the judge that Kelton Yates was still under the rule not to discuss the case with anyone. “We’d ask the prosecutor not to have access to this witness while we’re on break.” Wilkinson denied Jones’ request.
Trent: “Did we have a chance to talk during the break?”
Yates: “Yes, sir.”
Trent: “Now did Lori Cooper offer you money to kill her father?”
Yates: “No!”
Trent: “Who did she offer money to kill her father?”
Yates: “Kiondrix Smith. Around July.”
Trent: “What was the offer Lori made?”
Yates: “$5000”
Trent: “Did she say where the money would come from?”
Yates: “Insurance policy.”
The scheme was to split the money in half; $2500, a piece. Yates also told the jury that before the money was offered he didn’t intend to kill Lori’s father.
Trent asked the convicted murderer, “What finally made you change your mind?” Yates answered the question in a raised voice. “Money.”
Cross-examination by Attorney Robert Jones
“You wanted everything out in the open. didn’t you? You wanted to come clean?” Jones asked Yates. “No,” he replied. “But you wanted to get something,” Jones drilled the young man. “Yes”, he answered.
Referring to Lori Cooper, Jones asked Yates. “What does a man do when his woman is taken advantage of? Takes care of it, doesn’t he?” Again, Kelton said, “Yes.” Jones’s question was rapid fire. “He doesn’t need any money, does he?” Kelton replied, “No”.
Jones: “Did you and Kiondrix Smith decide who would do what?”
Yates: “Yes.”
Jones: “Did Kiondrix decide he wanted to be the man with the knife?”
Yates: “No, it just happened.”
Jones: “Well, you had a score to settle, didn’t you?”
Yates: “Not really.”
Jones: “When Kiondrix came to get you, was that when you decided to kill Mr. Cooper?”
Yates: “No.”
Jones: “Did Kiondrix decide to kill Mr. Cooper?”
Yates: “Yes.”
Jones: “So, you aren’t motivated by money; you’re helping a friend?”
Yates: “Yes.”
Jones: “If Kiondrix hadn’t made the decision to kill Mr. Cooper that night; it wouldn’t have been done, correct?”
Yates: “No, it wouldn’t have.”
Kelton Yates’s testimony was riddled with so many lies and contradictions that the biggest puzzle book couldn’t hold them all. “How many phone calls did you make to get your money?” “None,” he responded. “Did you call Lori Cooper and say; ‘where is my money?”‘ Prosecutor Trent interrupted the questioning with an objection. “Judge asked and answered.” “Sustain the objection,” Wilkinson said to Jones.
Jones: “Do you consider it strange that Kiondrix Smith hasn’t been charged?”
Yates: “Yes”
Jones: “Kiondrix Smith is as guilty as you are, isn’t he?”
Yates: “Yes”.
Jones: “The only reason (Kiondrix Smith) isn’t here(on trial) is because he’s a better liar than you?”
Yates: “I guess so.”
“Pass the witness,” Attorney Jones announced.
Judge Mike Wilkinson Read the Court Charge
Nineteen-year-old Lori Cooper had projected an innocent appearance throughout her murder trial. As the trial neared its end, Lori Cooper appeared in court dressed more for a social occasion than a murder trial. With ribbons tied around her arms, pastel stiletto heels, and a matching pink purse, she looked ready for dinner at an upscale Houston restaurant or an afternoon shopping at the Galleria Mall rather than facing serious criminal charges.
After the witness questioning phase of the trial, the attorneys from both sides wrapped up their inquiries, paving the way for Judge Mike Wilkinson to present the charges to the jury formally.
The jury now faced their crucial task: determine if Lori Cooper was guilty of capital murder, guilty of murder, or not guilty if they found reasonable doubt.
Judge Wilkinson, in addition to outlining the charges, instructed the jury on the accomplice rule—a legal principle stating that a conviction cannot be solely based on the testimony of an accomplice, in this case, for example, Kelton Yates was an accomplice. To secure a conviction, the judge instructed the jury there must be corroborating evidence independent of Yates’s testimony, and that such accomplice testimony must corroborate and connect Cooper to the alleged crime.
“Members of the jury, the defendant, Lori Elise Cooper, in case number(1016264) stands charged by indictment with the offense of capital murder. The defendant has pleaded not guilty.”
“Our law provides that if a jury finds evidence the defendant committed or conspired with Kelton Yates to commit capital murder then you will convict her of such charge. But if you find Lori Cooper did not conspire with Kelton Yates to commit the capital murder of Gary Cooper then you must acquit her, and consider the lesser charge of murder, and, if you so find, Lori Cooper committed or conspired to murder Gary Cooper you can convict her of murder. If not, you must enter a verdict of not guilty.” – Judge Wilkinson
Guilt or Innocence Argument
June 28, 2005: As Mike Trent stood, he addressed the court and faced the jury. “May it please the court, counsel, and members of the jury. Fathers and daughters are supposed to have a loving relationship. A Father is supposed to protect his daughter, keep her out of trouble, and guide her through her formative years. A daughter is supposed to respect her dad and love him, Daddy’s girl. None of that existed in this case.”
Trent pointed at Lori Cooper, and exhorted, “This girl sitting right here shaking her head at me, trying to look so innocent throughout this trial, set up the cold-blooded murder of her father.”
Trent reminded the jury they had two options to consider under the law whether Ms. Cooper was guilty of capital murder or the lesser included offense of murder. To make the distinction, and for the jury to convict the defendant of capital murder they must first believe beyond a reasonable doubt she paid or promised to pay Kelton Yates to murder her father. Trent explained the accomplice’s testimony.
“In the charge is the instructions about accomplice testimony. Kelton Yates is an accomplice as a matter of law. He’s been convicted of murder. Kiondrix may or may not be an accomplice.”
Lori Cooper’s attorney, Robert Jones quickly objected. “Your honor, the charge says; Kiondrix Smith is an accomplice as a matter of law.” For the umpteen time, the judge overruled Jones, implying the instructions were in the charge on pages 6 and 7.
“Kiondrix Smith may or may not be an accomplice,” Trent repeated. “I don’t have to prove in this case whether Kiondrix was in on this murder. That’s for somebody else to decide.” Trent argued that it was only fair to corroborate the evidence against Lori Cooper when Yates and Smith testified. “Kelton’s testimony alone convicts her of capital murder as long as there is evidence tending to connect it. And it’s there in abundance.”
“The first thing I want to bring to your attention is something we discussed in jury selection and that is the difference between capital murder and murder. Kelton Yates was charged and convicted of murder. We didn’t know about the (money) back then because Kelton hadn’t said anything about it. We had no firm evidence of why he had done it other than the possible motivations explored in this trial. Nothing more than speculation at that point.” – Prosecutor Mike Trent
“As I told you from the beginning of jury selection, I cannot prove everything to you with a hundred percent certainty. But I have to prove my case to you beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no dispute that Kelton Yates, by his own admission, killed Gary Cooper. The only issue for you is; did she set it up.” Spectators and the jury observed Lori Cooper’s lips, silently mouthing the word–No!
Trent pressed on. “The plot in this crime sounds like a made-for-tv movie. Pointing at the defendant,” Trent said, “She’s seducing boys at the school to get them to kill her father. She’s (fabricating) stories of pregnancies, abuse, and miscarriages. We could only wish that it’s fiction, members of the jury. But, unfortunately, it’s real, and it resulted in the death of a good man.”
Guilty Verdict
On June 29, 2005, the jury convicted Lori Cooper of murder for conspiring with her 16-year-old lover to brutally stab and kill her father in his home on August 6, 2002. Following the verdict, Cooper’s eyes filled with tears, as she turned to her family members in the courtroom. “I just don’t want to go back there,” she told her attorneys after State District Judge Michael Wilkinson ordered her bail revoked. Wilkinson instructed court bailiffs to take her into custody.
After more than six hours of deliberation spanning two days, the jurors made the decision not to convict Cooper of the more serious charge of capital murder, which would have triggered an automatic life sentence. The jury will now determine her punishment, which could range from probation to life in prison, during the continuation of the penalty phase.
Cooper’s attorneys, Robert Jones and Letitia Quinones would vigorously argue for leniency, hoping to convince the jury to reject any consideration of a prison sentence and place Cooper on probation.
Mike Trent’s biggest hope, that the jury would convict Lori Cooper of capital murder ended in disappointment. Eventually, he begrudgingly accepted the outcome. Still, he remained determined to crush the young girl’s cocky demeanor whose swag appeared to mock him as he delivered his closing arguments. As a first-time offender, Lori Cooper faced either probation or a prison sentence ranging from 5 years to life for first-degree murder. Probation made Trent nervous.
Punishment Stage June 30, 2005
Texas operates under a bifurcated trial system, which unequivocally divides the trial process into two distinct stages: guilt and innocence, followed by the punishment stage. Both the prosecution and the defense present starkly opposing evidence in both phases.
The prosecutor’s goal is to introduce evidence of prior bad acts committed by the defendant. At the same time, the defense will counter with compelling mitigating evidence that demonstrates even the most troubled lawbreaker or guilty murderer possesses redeeming qualities.
It is crucial to understand that, despite the challenges, any positive aspects of a person’s life can decisively outweigh the detrimental evidence put forth by the prosecution. Mike Trent knew this could happen. This explains why he brought in witnesses to say Lori Cooper had previously spoken of trying to kill her father.
A young lady named Shakeena Cleveland testified for the state during Lori Cooper’s punishment stage. Ms. Cleveland told the prosecutor that she and Lori were good friends when they attended St. Monica Catholic Church together and Eisenhower High School. “Do you still consider yourself a good friend of Lori Cooper?” Trent asked. “No, I haven’t spoken with her in a long time.” she replied.
Trent: “During the time you knew Lori Cooper did she make any comments to you about the way she felt about her father?”
Cleveland: “Yes.”
Trent: “What did she say about him?”
Cleveland: “How much she hated him because he was mean to her?”
Trent: “What did Lori Cooper tell you, if anything, she had done to her father?”
Cleveland: “She told (me) she put bleach in his insulin and hoped he’d die.”
On cross-examination by Letitia Quinones, the attorney reminded Ms. Cleveland that if she had been such a good friend of Lori; why had she had sex with Lori’s boyfriend Andre Reece? Quinones didn’t let up. She confronted Cleveland about a flyer that students circulated at school, a flyer which explicitly read ‘Lori Cooper was a whore and she had sex with everybody.’ Backed into a corner, Ms. Cleveland denied participating in the creation of the flyer although the school counselor reprimanded the girl for her involvement in it.
“Did you find the flyer cruel?” “Yes, I did.”
Quinones: “Did you laugh about it?”
Cleveland: “No.”
“But you laughed in here yesterday and you realize Lori Cooper could go to jail for life”, Quinones snapped at the witness. Ms. Cleveland admitted she laughed in court when the jury convicted Cooper but that she never laughed at the scandalous flyer.
“Do you feel it’s a joke to sit up there and tell untrue stories about Lori Cooper?” Quinones asked the witness, implying her testimony was lies because she didn’t like Lori.
Wanda Cooper took the stand to save her child from prison. The stakes were high. It seemed all the weight of the unbearable pain fell on Ms. Cooper’s shoulders. Veteran defense attorney Robert Jones led Ms. Cooper through a series of questions designed to touch the hearts of the jury to show mercy and put Lori on probation instead of sending the teenager to prison for a long time.
Jones: “Do you believe Lori Cooper killed her dad or assisted in the killing of her dad?”
Wanda: “Absolutely not.”
Jones: “Do you believe she offered anybody money to kill her dad?”
Wanda: “No, I do not.”
Jones: “Is this the time that your family should try to heal?”
Wanda: “Oh, yes.”
Jones: “Describe to the jury what it is you’ve observed about Lori as a result of her father’s death.”
Wanda: “Just been so hard. This(her father) was someone she knew which made it worse. I’ve had to hold Lori and comfort her, let her know we would get through this. The hardest part is it’s been the two of us; just the two of us.”
Jones: “Have you concluded as to how your daughter feels?”
Wanda: “She was just a typical teenager, her father a disciplinarian. Now she realizes we loved her dearly. She knows her father loved her. And she has told me on many occasions she loves her father.”
Jones: “Did you ever think you shouldn’t have lived on a golf course?”
Wanda: “No.”
Jones: “Were you doing it for your husband?”
Wanda: “I liked it, he liked it, yes. He was a big golfer, the fanatic.”
Jones: “What are you asking this jury to do?”
Wanda Cooper’s voice cracked. She began to cry. In between tears, she spoke softly.
Wanda: “Oh, my God, please, give me and my daughter a chance. I made mistakes along the way, trying to be a provider and I overlooked a lot. Don’t fault her for that. Give us a chance to grow and have a life to be with me. She’s my only child. Please help us, give us a chance.”
Prosecution Argument
Prosecuting attorney Mike Trent explained to the jury it was their duty to decide the penalty for a girl who planned and carried out the murder of her father. He said since Lori Cooper hadn’t been convicted of a felony crime she was eligible for probation. Trent beseeched the jury not to give Cooper probation.
“Was this a crime of passion or a mercy killing?” “No, it wasn’t. This was a cold-blooded hit on her father because she resented him for pushing her to play golf, and because she knew that she would be rich when her father was gone.” – Prosecutor Mike Trent
Trent reminded the jury that when Wanda Cooper testified, she said Lori’s father’s insurance policy in 2001 had doubled its value.
Quinones objected to Trent’s estimated policy value. “Wanda Cooper testified the amount was half, not double.”
“Rephrase your question.” Judge Wilkinson told Trent.
“This defendant had everything. She’s from an upper-middle-class background. She’s not like other disadvantaged defendants. She chose the life she lived and who she associated with.” Trent further argued the crime Cooper charged with wasn’t a drug or auto theft case. “This is murder. You don’t get a free murder.” – Prosecutor Mike Trent
Then, the prosecutor addressed the mental and sexual abuse alleged by Cooper against her father.
“There was no mental abuse; no mental abuse from playing golf.” Trent eyed the jury and made a wisecrack about golf, “I guess Tiger Woods has about four capital murders coming his way. All the abuse allegations against Lori Cooper’s father were lies concocted to motivate the person who carried out the crime.”
“Under no circumstances should she get less than 60 years in prison. She’s the one who lied to Kelton Yates. Without Lori Cooper, the murder wouldn’t have occurred.“
The heavy-handed prosecutor invoked the victim’s memory: “Gary Cooper never gets to play golf again; he never gets another sunset.” He implored the jury to stand up for the community, the state of Texas, and the family of Gary Cooper.
In a final surge of adrenalin, Trent pointed at the accused and said, “Lori Cooper belongs in prison for life!”
Defense Argument
Attorney Letitia Quinones urged the jury to consider Lori’s age of 16 when her father was murdered. “Children need their mother to help guide them during formative years. I’m not blaming Wanda Cooper. She did her best for Lori, and that was to work and provide for her family because her husband was disabled and couldn’t work.”
“Maybe Lori’s mother spent too much time at work. Maybe she wasn’t there for Lori the way she should have been. Quinones recalled how difficult it was for Lori Cooper to bear all her pent-up feelings. Who was there to tell Lori her father loved her and he only wanted the best for her?” – Defense Attorney Letitia Quinones
Quinones highlighted Gary Cooper’s passion for golf and his stern efforts to force Lori to pursue the sport seriously with the ambition of becoming a professional player someday.
“Lori didn’t need anyone to guide her to play golf or ice skate. She needed someone to guide her to distinguish right from wrong.” Addressing the abuse, Quinones said it didn’t matter if people didn’t believe her client had been abused by her father.
“What matters is Lori thought she was being abused. You’ve heard the testimony of her father’s hot temper and being emotionally abusive to her.” – Defense attorney Letitia Quinones
Quinones went into extensive details about Cooper’s alleged statements indicating she wanted her father dead.
“Maybe she called a friend and said–‘ you know what–I hate my father; I wish him dead, not knowing Kelton Kates would act upon it. Nobody told Lori she shouldn’t see Kelton Yates, he’s a thug.”‘
“Every day Lori went to Kelton Yates’s house because this is where she felt accepted. This is where she was treated like a regular teenager. She felt she was loved. Somebody there loved her the way she wanted to be loved, the way she needed to be loved.”
Quinones continued her fight to sway the jury to save Lori from a life sentence in prison. She appealed to the jury to give Lori up to ten years of probation.
“If you place her on probation, society won’t be in danger. She’ll have a chance to make a difference in society by telling people her story; telling them the right thing to do if they feel abused.”
“Nothing you can do can bring Gary Cooper back. But you can give Lori a chance; you can give Wanda Cooper a chance.” – Defense attorney Letitia Quinones
Making a last-ditch effort to humanize the young lady, Quinones made a passionate plea, “Lori Cooper isn’t a cold-blooded, calculating murderer. Don’t think of her as an adult; she was 16. Place her on probation. Give this family a second chance; let the healing begin and stop the suffering.”
Verdict
After deliberating for 8 hours, a buzzer rang. The jury reached a verdict. “We the jury having found Lori Cooper guilty of murder assess her punishment at 60 years in the Texas Department of Corrections.”
The verdict hit Lori Cooper like a thunderclap as she let out a high-pitched squeal, falling into the arms of her attorney. Tears streamed down her face as the reality of the sentence washed over her. Her mother, Wanda Cooper, who fought so hard to save her only child cried her eyes red.
“May the defendant please rise,” the judge requested casually. Lori Cooper choked up with sobs and appeared broken, frozen in shock, as she stood between her attorneys. “A jury, having found you guilty of murder, I hereby sentence you(Lori Cooper) to serve a term of 60 years in the Texas Department of Correction,” Wilkinson announced. “Lori, pray hard and often to God for forgiveness,” Otha Barnes, decried in court, Ms. Barnes is Lori’s paternal aunt.
After the imposition of the sentence, Attorney Robert Jones gave notice of appeal. An appeal was later filed. Lori Cooper pinned her hopes on getting a crack at a new trial.
Trapped in prison behind bars and nondescript walls, maybe, just maybe something good would happen. But on October 19, 2006, Cooper’s hope dimmed when the Texas First Court of Appeals upheld her conviction, effectively ending her chance for a direct reprieve. A fighter indeed she was, Ms. Cooper wasn’t done yet. This pretty girl with the ‘sweet smile’ wasn’t going down in flames without a ‘bullfight’ against the system.
Fierce and determined, Lori Cooper filed a civil lawsuit against prosecutor Mike Trent alleging abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy(between Trent and Kelton Yates) to develop false testimony, and, as Cooper construes her pleading, fraudulent concealment.
For all intent and purposes, she wanted to punish the prosecutor and get paid at the same time. Or, in a sneaky way, use Kelton Yates in the lawsuit to open a crack in her conviction to hopefully get a new trial.
Ten years later Kelton Yates would change ‘horses in the middle of the stream’ to help his ex-lover in the lawsuit even after double-crossing Lori Cooper when he testified in her criminal trial that she promised to pay him for the hit on her father which resulted, in essence, a life sentence for the Houston girl.
In an affidavit attached to the petition, Yates confirmed, under oath, that Trent offered to reduce his sentence from ‘sixty years to twenty years’ in exchange for testifying at Cooper’s trial that he killed her father due to manipulation and a $5,000 offer from Cooper. Cooper’s amended civil petition clearly states that Yates agreed with Trent’s offer to reduce his 60-year sentence.
Yates explicitly stated in his affidavit that he chose to assist Trent, fully aware that he told a ‘blatant lie’ that Cooper ever solicited him to commit murder. Cooper, again firmly denied any guilt regarding her father’s murder, asserting her complete innocence and stating she had no involvement whatsoever. Additionally, Yates unequivocally attested to Cooper’s innocence, confirming that she played no role in her father’s death.
In the lawsuit, the central question hinged on whether a person convicted of a crime can seek civil damages from the prosecutor due to the prosecutor’s alleged wrongful actions during the criminal proceedings, despite the fact the conviction had not been overturned or invalidated.
Mike Trent hit back harder than a hammer striking an anvil, delivering a counterargument to have the lawsuit dismissed. In Trent’s motion(Rule 91A) he asked the court to dismiss Cooper’s allegations on the grounds that her lawsuit had no basis in law or fact. According to Trent, if all of Cooper’s accusations against him were true it would undermine the validity of her murder conviction. Trent’s motion also stated Lori Cooper couldn’t use a civil lawsuit to collaterally attack her conviction.
Addressing each claim on both sides the court agreed, granting Trent’s motion, and dismissed Cooper’s lawsuit on May 1, 2018.
And so, the trials and tribulations finally ended. Behind prison bars, Lori Cooper and Kelton Yates continue to serve their time as the years tick by. Gary Cooper’s death left behind grieving and fractured families, along with a tainted family legacy. The case stands as a haunting reminder of how teenage rebellion and unrestrained anger toward parents can spiral out of control. What began as stubbornness, immaturity, and a desire for independence ultimately twisted into something darker – a path that led to murder.
Lori Elise Cooper TDC inmate# 01328999 is scheduled for a parole eligibility review on May 18, 2035.
Kelton Vondre Yates TDC inmate #01204519 is scheduled for a parole eligibility review on June 12, 2033. An appeals court upheld his murder conviction on November 9, 2004.
About the Author
Clarence Walker is a Houston Texas-based true crime journalist, freelance general interest news reporter, content creator, scriptwriter, legal researcher, and paralegal specialist. He can be reached at [email protected]
- Houston Chronicle. (2007, May 9). Teen gets 60-year term in dad’s slaying. [Online article]. Retrieved from https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/teen-gets-60-year-term-in-dad-s-slaying-1660259.php
- Houston Chronicle. (2004, February 25). Teen accused of hiring hitman to be tried as adult. [Online article]. Retrieved from https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Teen-accused-of-hiring-hitman-to-be-tried-as-adult-1951934.php
- State of Texas v. Andrew C. Morrow, No. 01-04-00393-CR (Tex. App. 2006). Retrieved from https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/first-court-of-appeals/2006/83557.html
- State of Texas v. Andrew C. Morrow, No. 14-04-00218-CR (Tex. App. 2004). Retrieved from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1894990.html
- In re Andrew C. Morrow, No. 14-04-00075-CR (Tex. App. 2004). Retrieved from https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fourteenth-court-of-appeals/2004/80234.html
- As part of researching this article, Clarence Walker interviewed retired Homicide Investigator Curtis Scales and obtained a copy of the case investigation file from Houston Police Department.
- Houston Chronicle Staff (August 7, 2002) Man Stabbed to Death on Porch. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/man-stabbed-to-death-on-porch-2094840.php
