Deal collapses; charges added against judge

California prosecutors add three charges after he refuses to accept a plea that would lead to a conviction.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 21, 2001

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Charles Cope was charged Thursday with three more misdemeanors stemming from the same April incident in California in which two women accuse him of trying to enter their hotel room.

Cope, now charged with committing five misdemeanors while police say he was intoxicated, could not work out a deal with prosecutors after months of negotiations, forcing his case to proceed to a jury trial in November.

During the negotiations, prosecutors in Monterey, Calif., wanted Cope to plead guilty or no contest to one charge, which would have resulted in a conviction. In return, they offered to drop all other charges. Cope refused.

The case still could be resolved before the Nov. 26 trial.

Lou Kwall, Cope's Florida attorney, said he feared the prosecution added the new charges -- more than five months after the original arrest -- because the judge refused to plead guilty.

"I'm extremely disappointed and somewhat confused," Kwall said. Prosecutors deny that allegation, explaining they planned to charge Cope with the additional counts in July after receiving information from the police but waited at Cope's request.

Cope is charged with prowling, peering into an inhabited dwelling and aggravated trespassing after being accused of trying to enter the room of a mother and daughter April 5 while in Carmel, Calif., attending a judicial seminar. He also is charged with petty theft in connection with taking the key to the hotel room and battery in connection with "offensive touching" of the daughter the day before.

The charges carry up to two years in county jail with fines up to $4,000, Managing District Attorney Ed Hazel said.

Cope, 52, a married father of three, began a paid leave of absence last month so he could enter inpatient alcohol rehabilitation. He has successfully completed the program, covered by state health insurance, but has yet to return to work.

Police say Cope had been drinking and met the women the previous morning, when police found the trio walking down the middle of a Carmel street at 1:30 a.m., all highly intoxicated.

The women, ages 64 and 31, believe Cope took their room key without their knowledge when he first met them and then used it to open their locked door at 12:30 a.m. the next day, police said. Only the room's chain prevented him from entering, police said.

Cope has described the incident as a "huge misunderstanding." His attorneys have said the judge was simply taking a walk through Carmel and that someone else tried to get into the women's room.

Tom Worthington, Cope's California attorney, said he believes "alcohol played a part" in the women's belief that Cope is the man they saw outside the hotel room.

Cope, who has sought counseling for problem drinking before, was charged with drunken driving in Naples in 1996 after police stopped him for erratic driving. The charge was later dismissed.

- Information from Joe Livernois at the Herald in Monterey County, Calif., was used in this report.

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