Cooper's mail to girls may be screened

Custody order outlines limitations on suspect's contact with his daughters

RALEIGH -- Even the cards Brad Cooper sends his daughters from jail might be screened to make sure they won't disturb the two young girls.

Cooper, 35, is charged with killing his wife, Nancy Cooper, who is the girls' mother.

A custody order made public Friday puts such tight restrictions on Cooper's contact with his daughters that he'll have to watch them grow up in pictures -- which a judge said must be mailed to him monthly at the Wake County jail.

Cooper's lawyers fought to keep the order secret to safeguard his right to a fair trial. One of them expressed concern that potential jurors would be influenced by the judge's decision to keep the girls out of their father's reach.

On Friday, Wake County District Court Judge Debra Sasser denied Cooper's request, saying that she trusted Superior Court judges in Wake County to ensure that he receives a fair trial.

The order, rendered last month, spells out why Sasser determined that Cooper was not the one to care for his young girls in the wake of their mother's death. The girls -- 4-year-old Bella and 2-year-old Katie -- have been living in Canada with their mother's family. The order allows them to stay there for the near future.

Brad Cooper is being held in the county jail without bond. No trial date has been set.

As long as he's in jail, Brad Cooper won't be able to physically see the girls; he can talk with them only on the phone. For inmates in Wake County, even that's limited.

Sasser decided Oct. 22 that the girls should live in Canada with their mother's family. Less than a week later, a Wake County grand jury indicted Cooper for murder. Sasser later modified the order to account for his incarceration.

Sasser explains in her order why she reached the decision she did. Though she believed that Brad Cooper loves his girls and that they return that affection, Sasser thought Cooper was ill-equipped to parent in the chaos in which he found himself: His wife had been murdered, his house declared a crime scene.

Moreover, Sasser wrote that she didn't think Cooper understood what that could mean for his daughters.

"Brad Cooper does not seem to appreciate the potential negative effects on the children of having to live in a household filled with stress and the disruptions caused by a contentious custody battle and an ongoing criminal investigation," Sasser wrote.