Woman who killed boyfriend on Mother’s Day 2016 heads to prison for manslaughter
After spending more than two years in jail, sitting through two trials and facing a light sentence after being convicted of manslaughter, Daisha Cooper thought she could be heading home soon.
Instead, Cooper left the courtroom in tears Thursday, March 7, after Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson sentenced her to nine to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of her boyfriend Ben Johnson.
“She got one hell of break with the verdict she got, but I don’t think (the pre-sentence report) accounted for what she got from that verdict,” Wilson said.
Her pre-sentence report called for a maximum of 71 months in prison, Wilson said.
Cooper, 30, was originally charged with one count of open murder for the May 8, 2016 shooting death of Johnson, the father of one of her children.
At the conclusion of her first trial, June 13, 2017, a jury of eight women and four men found Cooper not guilty of first-degree murder and guilty of one count of felony firearms.
The jury was unable to come to a decision on charges of second-degree murder or a lesser charge of reckless discharge of a firearm causing death, causing the case to be tried again on second-degree murder.
Jurors during her second trial, Jan. 14, 2019, again could not reach a verdict on the second-degree murder charge but found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter which was added before closing arguments as a lesser charge option for jurors.
Cooper’s defense argued throughout the case that Johnson was abusing Cooper for years and that she had finally had enough, arming herself with a shotgun hoping to scare him off when he got home. They said she never intended to kill Johnson, but the shotgun went off accidentally when she slipped on their home’s staircase.
Cooper apologized to Johnson’s family on Thursday, saying she was sorry for everything that happened and for allowing herself to be abused for so long.
Prosecutors disagreed with the domestic violence theory, arguing Cooper was angry at Johnson, believing he was cheating on her. They said she put into motion a plan to ambush him when he came home, shooting him while he stood on the front porch.
“I don’t know if there was domestic violence going on in the relationship, but I find it odd that the first time it came up was at trial,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jake Dickerson said. “When we look at the facts, there is a strong argument this was premeditated. She thought he was cheating on her and we know she called him 24 times in a two- hour period leading up to the shooting. The idea that she slipped on the stairs and the shooting was an accident is ridiculous.”
Johnson’s family agreed there was nothing accidental about Johnson’s death as they asked Wilson to impose the severest sentence he could.
Johnson’s family told the court Cooper is incapable of making good life decisions, had no reason to kill Johnson and that her being sentenced for Johnson’s death was the first happy day the family has had in a long time.
Cooper was credited for the 304 days she served for the felony firearm charge she was convicted of at her first trial.
