COPELAND CASE: PROSECUTOR WITH LOCAL TIES FOUND IT DEMANDING

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The attorney who prosecuted Ray Copeland says the convicted serial killer has "finally received his just due."

The attorney, Kenny Hulshof, former Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney who now works for the state attorney general's office, said: "It came out during testimony that, for over 40 years, he's been abusing the criminal-justice system. I just think a jury finally told Ray Copeland that he must be held accountable,"

Hulshof was appointed special prosecutor for the Copeland trial, which was held in Chillicothe. Last week a jury found the 76-year-old farmer guilty of the murders of five transient farm workers.

For Hulshof, the victory was hard-fought.

"Without question it would be hard to imagine a case in my lifetime that's going to be as demanding, both physically and emotionally," the 32-year-old native of Charleston said. "But I feel fortunate that I was able to prosecute the case for the state; without question, it's the biggest case of my career."

Copeland's wife, Faye, was convicted of four of the murders last November in a case in which Hulshof was co-prosecutor. Though Faye Copeland has not yet been formally sentenced, a jury recommended she be given death.

A jury recommended Wednesday that her husband receive the same sentence.

Hulshof said a death sentence is the only appropriate punishment for Ray Copeland, whom he called the "mastermind" of the couple's killing spree.

In fact, when the defense for Copeland tried to plea bargain the case, asking the court to waive the death penalty for Copeland and his wife in exchange for a guilty plea to five counts of first-degree murder, Hulshof threatened to withdraw from the case.

"We just don't plea negotiate with serial killers," Hulshof said. "That is and always will be the position of the attorney general's office."

Copeland and his wife were accused of killing five drifters after they enlisted them in a scheme to buy cattle using bad checks. The five men's bodies were found in the fall of 1989 near farms where Ray Copeland had done odd jobs.

Four of the bodies were found in shallow graves on the farms; the fifth body was found weighted down in a cistern. All had been shot in the head.

The victims were Paul Cowert, 21, of Dardanelle, Ark.; John W. Freeman, 27, of Tulsa, Okla.; Jimmy Dale Harvey, 27, of Springfield; and Dennis Murphy, 31, and Wayne Warner, 44, both of Bloomington, Ill.

Hulshof said key evidence in the case was presented in the "guilt-finding phase" of the trial. It came from a bullet fragment that had been removed from the skull of one of the victims. Ballistics tests matched the fragment to a rifle that was seized from Copeland's bedroom.

Throughout the trial defense attorneys claimed Copeland was mentally deficient, and offered that as a defense. It's a strategy Hulshof said was unsuccessful.

"The defense offered very strong evidence that he may have suffered from some sort of dementia, commonly known as senility, or some type of brain damage," Hulshof said. "But the psychiatrist also testified that Ray Copeland knew right from wrong."

Another argument used by defense attorneys was to ask the jury to consider Copeland's age when deciding on a verdict.

"We countered with the argument that he's 76 now; but when he committed the first murder he was 71, and when he committed the last one, he was 74," Hulshof said.

Copeland would become the oldest person on Missouri's death row if a judge upholds the jury's recommendation. Both Copeland cases will be subject to automatic review by the Missouri Supreme Court since they involve the death penalty.

More than 80 witnesses testified during the three-month trial. Hulshof said the most exhausting aspect of the trial was having to deal with three defense attorneys.

"It was very tiresome to be beaten up on by three lawyers at a time," he said. Two investigators assisted Hulshof with the case.

Hulshof has worked for the state attorney general's office for two years in the criminal division. Before that, he was Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney for three years.

He began his law career in the public defender's office at Jackson in 1983, after graduating from the University of Mississippi law school.

Though the most celebrated trial of his career is finally over, Hulshof said he won't be able to take much time off. A murder case in Mississippi County awaits.