GREENFIELD — Brad Cooper, who served as Johnson County prosecutor for 10 years, apologized for his actions and for lying as he was sentenced in court on Wednesday on multiple felony charges.
He is now a convicted felon, and has been removed as prosecutor. He will not serve any time in jail.
In a 17-minute hearing in Hancock Superior Court II, Cooper made two statements as he was sentenced on three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.
“I apologize to all the people I’ve let down, and I apologize to all the people I disappointed,” Cooper said.
He specifically turned to the domestic battery victim, who attended the hearing, and said he was sorry.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Cooper, 51, of Trafalgar, said. “I did it, I did it all. I’m sorry.”
Judge Dan Marshall said during the hearing that the charges and conviction undermine the public’s faith in the judicial system. He said he doesn’t typically make statements during sentencing, but said that Cooper’s role in the judicial system prompted him to speak.
“I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard,” Marshall told Cooper. “I hope going forward you apply that standard.”
For a decade, Cooper has decided whether suspects in Johnson County are charged with crimes, and has prosecuted murderers, child molesters and drug dealers. But on Wednesday, he sat at the defense table and listened as the judge outlined that he must meet with the Johnson County Probation Department within 24 hours and the special prosecutor confirmed that he had turned in all the county-owned property. They had also collected his state-issued Indiana prosecutor identification card.
Cooper was sentenced on charges of criminal confinement, official misconduct, identity deception and domestic battery. The charges stem from a March 4 incident involving his then-fiancee at his home in Trafalgar. A recording of the 911 call from that evening shows that she fled to a neighbor’s home, and the neighbor called police. She was battered and confined, and Cooper used her phone to send electronic messages while pretending to be her.
Cooper pleaded guilty in April and the sentencing was set for Wednesday to allow him time in treatment, which is progressing.
No other details about the nature of his crimes or his treatment have been released. He had retained the title and pay of prosecutor in the interim.
In total, Cooper will serve 540 days on supervised probation. He can petition the court to change some of the felony convictions to a misdemeanor after he completes probation in January 2021, but the criminal confinement charge will remain a felony for three years. In July 2022, all the charges could revert to misdemeanors.
Marshall told him that he was required by law to report the conviction to the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.
Cooper’s license to practice law as an attorney may be temporarily suspended by the Indiana Supreme Court, and he could face additional discipline regarding his license, according to the Rules for Admission to the Bar and the Discipline of Attorneys from the Indiana Rules of Court.
The executive director of the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission will report the conviction to the Indiana Supreme Court and request that the lawyer be suspended, said Kathryn Dolan, spokeswoman for the Indiana Supreme Court.
Last week, the state stopped Cooper’s pay as prosecutor pending a review by the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office.
Special prosecutor Doug Brown outlined for the court that he had been in communication with the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office and confirmed that Cooper had turned in his office keys, computer, all password information and vehicle keys. He turned over his county-issued iPad in the court on Wednesday. He had also submitted his resignation paperwork to the state.
State law required that Cooper be removed from office upon conviction.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Villanueva was sworn in as interim prosecutor until the Johnson County Republican Party conducts a caucus to name a prosecutor to complete Cooper’s term through 2022.
At the close of the hearing, Cooper asked to make a second statement. He specifically apologized to the victim for lying to a television news station in the days after the incident and claiming that the victim had attacked him.
“I was the one responsible,” Cooper said.
