A son who helped his mother avoid a murder conviction over his father's death as a child found himself defending her again nearly 20 years later, after being shot with the same gun.
Linda Cooney killed her former husband in Florida in 1992 before their son Kevin was shot in Las Vegas in 2011, leaving him partially paralysed. Prosecutors accused Linda of deliberately shooting Kevin, but he maintained that the gun had discharged accidentally during a struggle.
Linda was convicted of attempted murder in 2014.
However, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned her convictions in 2017, and the case was ultimately resolved through a plea agreement without a felony conviction in June 2022.
An 11-Year-Old Boy's Testimony Helped Acquit His Mother
On 7 February 1992, Linda shot and killed her former husband, Florida lawyer Jim Cooney, at her Palm Beach County home. Jim had arrived to collect their two sons, Kevin and Christopher, for a weekend visit when Linda fired a .357 Magnum revolver.
Linda admitted shooting Jim but claimed she acted in self-defence because he had threatened her with a knife.
Investigators questioned her account and suspected that a knife found in his hand had been placed there after the shooting. However, a jury ultimately accepted her self-defence claim.
Kevin, who was 10 when his father died, became a crucial witness at Linda's 1993 murder trial. Then 11, he testified that he had seen a shiny object in his father's hand before the shooting, although he could not identify it as a knife.
His testimony supported Linda's defence, and a Florida jury acquitted her of murder. She subsequently moved to Las Vegas with her sons.
According to CBS News, Linda later retrieved the revolver from police evidence.
Nearly 20 Years Later, Kevin Was Shot With the Same Gun
On 28 June 2011, Kevin, then 30, was shot in the neck inside the family's Las Vegas home. Linda and Kevin were the only people present.
Investigators recovered a .357 Magnum revolver and confirmed that its serial number matched the gun used in Jim's death.
Kevin suffered cardiac arrest, but paramedics arrived within five minutes, and he survived. The shooting left him with incomplete quadriplegia, causing limited movement in all four limbs.
According to Nevada Supreme Court records, Linda sent a text message to her younger son Christopher after the shooting. Christopher, a Las Vegas police officer, called her, and they spoke for approximately 16 minutes before emergency services were contacted.
Linda initially told investigators she did not know how Kevin had been shot.
Kevin reportedly told first responders the shooting was accidental, but later identified his mother as the person who shot him, according to witnesses. He subsequently maintained during legal proceedings that the gun had discharged accidentally.
Why Did Kevin Defend His Mother Again?
At Linda's 2014 trial, Kevin testified that he had attacked his mother during an argument. He said he pulled the revolver from her hands and pointed it towards himself before it accidentally discharged.
Prosecutors disputed his explanation.
They alleged that Linda resented Kevin's relationship with his girlfriend, Karina Taylor, and feared losing influence over him. They argued that she deliberately shot her son during a dispute.
Other witnesses testified that Kevin had previously blamed his mother.
According to CBS News, surgeon John Fildes, who treated Kevin, testified that the bullet travelled slightly downwards and to the left. Prosecutors argued that its trajectory contradicted Kevin's earlier account of how the gun discharged.
On 22 April 2014, a jury convicted Linda of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm, witness intimidation and stalking. She was subsequently sentenced to between 13 and 41 years in prison.
Despite the verdict, Kevin continued to defend his mother.
Why Was Linda Cooney's Conviction Overturned?
On 21 March 2017, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned Linda's convictions after finding that evidence concerning the 1992 shooting had unfairly prejudiced her trial.
The judges ruled that the earlier killing had limited relevance to most of the charges. Linda had been acquitted in 1993, and presenting details of the incident risked encouraging jurors to view her as predisposed to violence.
The court also found that the stalking charge should have been tried separately. It ordered a new trial because it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the improperly admitted evidence had not influenced the verdict.
The ruling did not establish Linda's innocence or determine that Kevin's shooting was accidental. The court rejected her argument that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, but overturned the convictions because of errors during the trial.
How Did the Case Finally End?
The case was resolved in June 2022, more than a decade after Kevin was shot. Linda had entered an Alford plea in March that year, shortly before a retrial was scheduled to begin.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Linda initially pleaded guilty to felony battery with a deadly weapon and misdemeanour domestic battery. She was subsequently allowed to change the felony battery plea to a gross misdemeanour count of conspiracy to commit a crime.
The Alford plea allowed Linda to resolve the case without admitting factual guilt while acknowledging that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
At a hearing on 15 June 2022, she was released from probation after receiving credit for time already served. Her lawyers said the agreement allowed the case to close without a felony conviction.
Kevin was left with life-changing injuries.
He had defended his mother in both cases, first after his father's death and later after being shot himself. Although jurors rejected his explanation in 2014, their verdict was overturned. The case ended without another attempted murder trial.
