USA - Delaware. The Delaware Supreme Court today ordered a new trial for James E. Cooke Jr.

The Delaware Supreme Court today ordered a new trial for James E. Cooke Jr.. Cooke, 38, black, was sentenced to death for the 2005 rape and murder of  20-year-old Lindsay Bonistall. In a 3-2 decision, the justices said Cooke's right to a fair trial was violated when his trial lawyers sought a verdict of guilty but mentally ill, even though Cooke vehemently disagreed with them and proclaimed his innocence. The Supreme Court agreed with Cooke's appellate attorneys that his trial attorneys' strategy, and the failure of the judge to properly consider the conflict between him and his attorneys, violated his Sixth Amendment rights. "We conclude that defense counsel's strategy infringed upon the defendant's personal and fundamental constitutional rights to plead not guilty, to testify in his own defense, and to have the contested issue of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt decided by an impartial jury," Justice Henry DuPont Ridgely wrote for the majority. Prosecutors argued that the DNA evidence against Cooke was overwhelming.