In 1993, Florida woman Linda Cooney was acquitted of murdering her ex-husband, James Cooney, after she argued that she had shot him in self-defense. Now Cooney is on trial again, this time for the alleged shooting of her adult son, Kevin Cooney, 30, in Las Vegas. Prosecutors say she used the same gun to shoot Kevin as she did to fatally shoot his father.
Kevin was paralyzed in June of 2011 after being shot in the neck with a .357 Magnum.
Linda, 64, is due in a court in Friday as prosecutors and defense attorneys argue over whether jurors will be told about the previous case, reports the Sun-Sentinel. Defense lawyers argue that the previous trial is irrelevant.
In the case of her son's shooting, Linda has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon, intimidating a witness and stalking. Prosecutors believe the case hinges on her dislike of her son's girlfriend, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The defense argues that there was never any stalking, and that just as in the first case, Linda fired her weapon in self-defense following a heated argument, per the Review-Journal.
Interestingly, it was Kevin's testimony that proved key to her acquittal the first time around. Only 10 years old at the time of his father's death, Kevin told a Palm Beach courtroom that his father may have been holding something in his hand after he was shot, bolstering his mother's argument that her ex-husband had attacked her with a knife during an argument, reports the Sun-Sentinel.
The fact that Kevin may have been paralyzed by the same gun that killed his father is "surprising," Linda's original defense lawyer told The Palm Beach Post. "I think that's all I can say."
An investigation by the Review-Journal noted a sometimes rocky home life for Linda, Kevin and his brother, Chris. Since Jan. 1, 2000, police have responded to 31 calls from the Cooney home, per the Review-Journal.