No Execution for Girl Who Killed at 15

INDIANAPOLIS — Paula R. Cooper, whose death sentence for a murder committed at age 15 drew a plea for clemency from the Pope and led to a rewriting of Indiana law, may not be executed, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court, on a 5-0 vote, said Cooper should serve a 60-year prison sentence for the stabbing death of an elderly Bible teacher.

The court cited a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision generally barring executions of killers who were under age 16 at the time of the crime and a 1987 change in Indiana law that sets an identical minimum age. The law was enacted after Cooper’s crime and was not retroactive, but the court said it would be unfair not to apply it to her case.

Slaying Called Gruesome

At the same time, the justices said, “This is a difficult conclusion to reach because of the gruesome nature of Cooper’s acts.”

State Atty. Gen. Linley E. Pearson said the state has no grounds to appeal the ruling. Cooper’s attorney, William Touchette, said: “We won. I’m elated, relieved.”

Cooper, now 19, learned of the decision from prison Supt. Clarence Trigg, who said she “jumped up and down” with joy. She will have to serve half of the 60-year term before she may apply for parole.

Cooper pleaded guilty to the 1985 slaying of Ruth E. Pelke, 78, of Gary. Pelke was stabbed 33 times with a butcher knife after Cooper and three friends went to her home on the pretext of taking Bible lessons, then robbed the woman.

Cooper was sentenced to the electric chair; the three other young women received prison terms ranging from 25 to 60 years.

During Cooper’s appeal, Roman Catholics and some European leftist groups adopted her as the symbol of their campaign against capital punishment. Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union took up her cause.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II wrote to then-Gov. Robert D. Orr to ask for clemency. In March, an Italian organization called Thou Shall Not Kill presented a clemency petition with 1 million signatures to the United Nations.