DULUTH — A former Duluthian and felon who was charged with gun possession after turning in a firearm last summer pleaded guilty Friday in St. Louis County District Court.
Minnesota felon who turned in brother's gun pleads guilty
Steven Cooper's attorney said he will argue for probation at the October sentencing in Duluth.
September 1, 2023 at 7:45PM
Steven Cooper, 31, was charged with felony possession of a firearm by the St. Louis County Attorney's Office in July of 2022, after he told his parole officer about finding a pistol and some ammunition among things in a vehicle left behind by his brother, who had died the previous April.
He had wrapped the gun in a sweatshirt and put it in a secure place inside his apartment building before calling the parole officer, who notified police, the criminal complaint says.
Cooper, now a St. Louis Park resident, had been convicted of a violent crime as a teenager.
Last spring at a news conference held by the Duluth NAACP, Cooper said that he was "honest from the start. By doing the right thing, I am being punished."
His attorney, Joseph Vaccaro, told Judge Dale Harris in court Friday he expects to ask him for a departure from guideline of a 5-year prison sentence in lieu of probation.
Prosecutor Tony Rubin pointed out what he called an inconsistency related to when Cooper found the gun. Cooper told law enforcement he had found it the night before he called his parole officer, Rubin said. Cooper said in court he found it the day he called.
Harris ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
The Duluth NAACP has called on St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki to drop the charges, alleging he's being treated "unreasonably harshly" because he is Black.
The County Attorney's Office said then in a statement that it wouldn't "make legal decisions based upon community pressure or false and unfounded allegations of racism in charging decisions."
Cooper was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2010 for shooting two convenience store clerks in their backs as he robbed a Duluth store. He shot them in 2006, after he had just turned 15. Both victims survived. Cooper was released after serving 13½ years.
Vaccaro said he wasn't yet ready to speak about the case on Friday.
Cooper will be sentenced Oct. 27 in Duluth.
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