Jury acquits ex-OU player Adrian Cooper
Imprisoned Adrian Cooper was accused of assaulting another inmate in federal prison

BY NOLAN CLAY

Published: November 15, 2008

Federal inmate Adrian Cooper was acquitted Friday of assault because jurors said they weren’t convinced he started a fight.

Cooper, a former University of Oklahoma football player who went on to the National Football League, mouthed to the jury, "Thank you.” He later wiped away a tear.

Cooper, 40, was accused of assaulting inmate Ramiro P. Valdez on Jan. 11 at the El Reno federal prison camp. Cooper, a former stockbroker, went to the prison camp in 2006 for cheating clients out of almost $1 million.

Jurors at the federal trial in Oklahoma City left the courtroom to deliberate about 3:12 p.m. Friday and were back with their verdict 30 minutes later. The jury foreman, Dusty Nelson of Edmond, told The Oklahoman jurors were unanimous "from the get go,” with no discussion until after the vote.

"It was fairly simple for all of us,” Nelson said. "It was just a fight in prison. No one really saw what happened for sure. ... We’re not sure who started it.”

Prosecutors insisted it was ridiculous to believe that Valdez would start a fight with a former athlete who weighed 100 pounds more and was almost a foot taller. But defense attorney Stephen Jones said Cooper had no motive to assault Valdez, particularly since Cooper knew he would be moved out of the minimum-security camp if he was caught.

‘I was scared’

Cooper on Friday admitted he struck Valdez in a camp hallway but said Valdez threw the first punch and he reacted in self-defense. Cooper said other inmates started running toward them.

"I was scared,” Cooper testified. "I thought he had a weapon. I thought somebody was going to help him. ... There are no fair fights in prison.”

Cooper said he feared he was going to be stabbed and knew Valdez had access at the prison camp’s farm to tools that could be used as weapons. "It was chaos,” Cooper said. "I started swinging.”

Valdez, 60, an admitted methamphetamine seller, testified Thursday that Cooper "blindsided” him. He said Cooper punched him in the face as he checked his prison money account at a machine in the hallway. But jurors learned during the trial that Valdez gave a different account to an FBI agent.

Only one guard, Jonathan Potts, witnessed the incident but did not see how it started.

Cooper’s attorneys contended Valdez started the fight because he mistakenly thought his injuries would qualify him for early release. Valdez suffered a concussion, facial cuts, split lips, a broken leg, a broken nose, a knee injury and double vision.

Cooper is serving a sentence of six years and three months in prison for securities fraud and money laundering. "I was guilty,” he testified Friday. "I took a lot of money that didn’t belong to me.”

He said he stole from others, including former NFL teammates, because he lost millions of dollars in investments and needed the money "to survive.”