Local News

Judge orders phone in Nancy Cooper case to go to defense

At a status hearing Thursday, Brad Cooper's attorney, Howard Kurtz, asked Judge Donald Stephens to order prosecutors to turn over the device as well as a copy of a hard drive.

Posted 2009-06-04T22:34:53+00:00 - Updated 2009-06-04T22:36:28+00:00

Brad Cooper appears in Wake County District Court Oct. 28, 2008, to face a first-degree murder charge in the July 12 death of his wife, Nancy Cooper.

A Superior Court judge has ordered prosecutors to turn over the BlackBerry of a slain Cary woman to her husband's defense attorneys by Friday.

At a status hearing Thursday, Brad Cooper's attorney, Howard Kurtz, asked Judge Donald Stephens to order prosecutors to turn over the device as well as a copy of a hard drive.

Kurtz said he is concerned that data on the drive could be purged and harm his efforts to defend his client.

Wake County Assistant District Attorney Howard Cummings said agents are working on copying the 16 drives collected from Cooper's house. Stephens ordered that they be turned over to the defense by July 1.

Brad Cooper is charged with murder in the July 12 death of his wife, Nancy Cooper. She was found dead in an undeveloped subdivision several miles from the couple's Cary home.

Stephens also said Thursday that he hopes to start looking at a trial date at the next status hearing, scheduled for Aug. 27.