A 57-year-old man, Kevin Cooper, who was sentenced to death in 1985 and has been on California's death row for 30 years, is set to be the next prisoner executed by the state, even though five judges say he is innocent.
In 1985, the convict brutally murdered Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica, and 10-year-old Chris Hughes, who was staying at their house in the Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills.
Their 8-year-old son Josh was the only survivor, even though he had his throat slit, and his account of that night would be the key to the prosecution's case.
It was learnt in November that a moratorium on executions in The Golden State was lifted, paving the way for Cooper's date with the gurney at San Quentin prison.
He was sentenced to death (pictured) in 1985
However he says he is planning to file a last-ditch motion to Gov. Jerry Brown to keep an 'open mind' about evidence in the case. He has run out of other options so, if Brown doesn't intervene, he will be given the lethal injection.
In an interview with NBC from behind bars, he said:
'I am the only person in the history of the state to have five federal circuit judges say that 'the state of California may be about to execute an innocent man.
I'm not asking America as a whole, or any one person in particular, to believe me. Forget what I say. I'm asking people to believe those [judges]. When I was convicted of burglary, I pled guilty to those,because I did them.'
The only people who are on death row are poor people. No matter what their culture, or their skin color, or their religion, we're all poor. I am innocent. And it's not my execution, it's my murder.'
Cooper (pictured after his arrest in 1983) is out of options and will file a last-ditch appeal. If he is not successful, he will be given a lethal injection
The young Ryen who survived the attack initially said that three white or Latino men murdered his parents. That account, combined with physical evidence suggested multiple killers and prompted police to release a criminal bulletin seeking three suspects who were 'white or Mexican males.'
On November 30, 2009, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Ninth Circuit Court's denial of his appeal but the judges were bitterly divided. In an unprecedented 103-page dissent signed by five of judges, they warned: 'The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.'
His case was also highlighted in July 2015 during an episode of CNN's Death Row Stories, which suggested that there was evidence which could exonerate Cooper.
On October 28, 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found Cooper's basic rights had been violated throughout the trial. They also concluded that he had been given ineffective council at trial.
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