WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - There has been a delay in the re-trial of a former death row inmate charged with raping and killing a University of Delaware student in 2005.
Prosecutors on Monday rested their case against James Cooke Jr. but The News Journal of Wilmington reports that because of scheduling issues, the trial will be in recess for a week and that testimony will not resume until next Tuesday.
Cooke was sentenced to death in 2007 for the murder of Lindsey Bonistall. The state Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2009 because his public defenders, without Cooke's consent and despite his repeated claims of innocence, argued that he was guilty but mentally ill.
Cooke is expected to be among the final defense witnesses.
