RALEIGH -- Lawyers involved in the murder trial of Samuel J. Cooper will decide late today whether to resume the trial Friday.
Jurors were sent home Wednesday because one of the defense lawyers was ill. Judge Henry Hight recessed proceedings for at least two days.
Cooper is accused of murdering five men: Osama "Sam" Haj-Hussein, 43; LeRoy Jernigan, 40; Timothy David Barnwell, 34; Ricky High, 48; and Tariq Hussain, 52. His lawyers admit that he pulled the trigger of the gun linking the deaths but say that years of abuse by his father left him emotionally shell-shocked and that his actions were not premeditated.
