Media Release
Wilmington – Today a New Castle County Superior Court jury recommended, in a vote of 11 – 1, that James Cooke received a death sentence for the rape and murder of University of Delaware student Lindsay Bonistall in her off-campus apartment in Newark, Delaware. On April 13th, after a trial that lasted five weeks the same jury found Cooke guilty of First Degree Murder, Rape, Burglary, and Arson involving the death of Lindsey Bonistall in May, 2005. Cooke was also tried and convicted of two nearby burglaries of two young women in the days leading up to the killing.
The next step in the case is sentencing, in which Superior Court Judge Charles H. Toliver, IV will impose a sentence of life in prison or a sentence of death.
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