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STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT A07-1038

Hennepin County

Anderson, Paul H., J. Took no part, Dietzen, J.

Gary Lee Cooper, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent. SYLLABUS The postconviction court properly denied appellants petition for postconviction relief because appellants claims are barred by the rule of State v. Knaffla, 309 Minn. 246, 252, 243 N.W.2d 737, 741 (1976), and do not fall under either exception to Knaffla. Affirmed. Considered and decided by the court en banc. OPINION ANDERSON, Paul H., Justice. A Hennepin County jury found Gary Lee Cooper guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Gregory Peterson. Cooper was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Cooper filed a direct appeal, which we affirmed, and two postconviction petitions in district court, which the district court denied. Cooper now appeals from a summary 1 Filed: February 28, 2008 Office of Appellate Courts

denial of his third postconviction petition, arguing that (1) the state engaged in prosecutorial misconduct in its opening statement; (2) the trial judge erred in communicating with the jury outside the presence of counsel and Cooper; and (3) both Coopers trial and appellate counsel were ineffective. We affirm. On March 1, 1995, appellant, Gary Lee Cooper, fatally shot Gregory Peterson outside a Minneapolis apartment. The specific facts underlying this case are detailed in our decision in Coopers direct appeal, State v. Cooper, 561 N.W.2d 175 (Minn. 1997). At trial, Cooper did not dispute the fact that he shot Peterson but claimed that he acted in self-defense. On February 15, 1996, a Hennepin County jury found Cooper guilty of first-degree murder in violation of Minn. Stat.

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Minnesota Law