06/09/92 Vernon Cooper V. State Tennessee

The petitioner, Vernon Cooper, and the state have both appealed from the Hamilton County Criminal Court's action on the petitioner's claim for post-conviction relief. The trial court denied the petitioner relief from his conviction for murder in the first degree, but it vacated his death sentence on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel. The petitioner was originally convicted in a jury trial in February, 1985, for the first degree murder of his estranged wife. The conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. State v. Cooper, 718 S.W.2d 256 (Tenn. 1986), cert. denied., 479 U.S. 1101, 107 S.Ct. 1332 (1987).