Sentencing date set in Kim Cook case

PALMER - Three months after a jury found Kim Michael Cook guilty of the murder of a Palmer police officer, the 53-year-old Slana man will be sentenced for the crime.

Cook is set to appear Jan. 22 before Dillingham Superior Court Judge Fred Torrisi, in a Palmer courtroom.

James Rowland Jr., who was 30 years old when he died, was the first Palmer police officer to be killed in the line of duty.

Cook shot Rowland during a scuffle on May 15, 1999, after the officer responded to an early-morning call about a man slumped over in a truck on a ramp leading into the Carrs grocery store parking lot.

The two men exchanged gunfire. Rowland was shot just above his bulletproof vest and died at the scene. Cook was shot twice in the arm.

An 11-man, one-woman jury deliberated just two hours before finding Cook guilty of first-degree murder on Oct. 27. The Palmer jury also found him guilty of an aggravating circumstance - that he killed a police officer who was performing his official duties.

Cook could be sentenced to a maximum of 99 years in prison.

Two weeks into the trial Cook was granted permission to fire his state-appointed defense team and represent himself. While Torrisi granted the defendant's request, he rejected Cook's opinion he was given ineffective council by his defense team, Public Defender Greg Heath and Assistant Public Defender George Davenport.

Anchorage attorney Sidney Billingslea will represent Cook in the sentencing phase, according to court documents. Billingslea was appointed by the state's Office of Public Advocacy.

Palmer District Attorney Kalytiak argued during the six-week trial that Cook was a violent-minded man who hated police officers and would fight to the death before he would be arrested. Cook had several run-ins with law enforcement officers in the past few years, Kalytiak said, including one at the University of Alaska where he was pepper-sprayed during a struggle with campus police.

Minutes after delivering their verdict, several of the jurors who decided Cook's fate said it was the defendant's own testimony which convinced them he intended to kill Officer Rowland. Cook claimed he shot Rowland only after the Palmer police officer shot him first.

"You can either be a boot licker, you can do nothing, or you can defend yourself," Cook told Palmer Assistant District Attorney Dave Berry during cross-examination after Cook's testimony. "I don't like to be controlled by anyone."