Ex-Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper is suspended from practicing law in Indiana

Update: The now-former Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper can no longer practice law in the state of Indiana. The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Cooper's law license Friday due to his convictions of felony criminal confinement, misdemeanor domestic battery and other offenses, according to court documents. 

The court says the "interim suspension" will continue until the court orders otherwise or the resolution of "any resulting disciplinary action."

Original, July 17: Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper apologized in court Wednesday and said he is taking "full responsibility" for crimes in a domestic abuse case that has forced him out of the elected post he's held for a decade.

Cooper, 51, was sentenced to 540 days of probation by Hancock Superior Court Judge Dan E. Marshall, a special judge appointed to handle the case. He avoided all jail time.

Cooper handed in his resignation letter to special prosecutor Doug Brown Wednesday. If he had not resigned, Cooper's felony conviction would have triggered his removal from office.

Woman assaulted by ex-Johnson County prosecutor:'He said I was a dog and that's how he was going to treat me'

"I apologize to the people I’ve let down” Cooper told the court.

"Mainly, I’m deeply sorry to (his victim) for harming her," Cooper said, his eyes turned toward the woman who sat in the front row of the gallery. "I take full responsibility for my actions.”

IndyStar is not naming the woman because she is the victim of a crime

During Wednesday's hearing, Marshall told Cooper that when those in the justice system violate the law, the whole system's reputation suffers.

“We should hold ourselves to a higher standard,” Marshall said.

During an April 15 hearing in Greenfield, Cooper admitted that he committed the felony crimes of criminal confinement, identity deception, and official misconduct and misdemeanor domestic battery.

If he commits no new crimes over the next three years, the plea agreement calls for all felonies to be reduced to misdemeanors.

Little about this case has been typical. Cooper wasn't named publicly when the investigation began in March. He wasn't arrested until six weeks later.

He remained in office despite admitting guilt, because the plea agreement and criminal conviction had not been officially entered in court.

Deputies were called to a domestic incident in Cooper's home in the 500 block of West State Road 252 in Trafalgar just before midnight March 4.

A woman, identified in court as Cooper's fiance, ran to a neighbor's home and called 911. Her right eye was swollen and bruised. She said Cooper had hit her and would not let her leave.

Cooper, she told police, also used her Facebook account to send messages posing as her.

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A deputy at the scene called Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess, who ordered them to distance themselves and hand over the investigation to the Indiana State Police.

Brown, the special prosecutor handling the case, has said deputies could have done more.

"He should have been taken into custody by the Johnson County sheriff that night," Brown, the chief deputy prosecutor in Decatur County, told IndyStar in April.

Burgess said he and his deputies worked too closely with Cooper to maintain transparency and the public's confidence. He stood by his decision.

"It's not the right thing to have the sheriff's department work that," Burgess told IndyStar in April. "When you work with somebody for 20-plus years, there's a friendship that's built.

"Not saying I wouldn't take a friend to jail, but that was the appropriate response."

Cooper's case ended in a plea agreement on the same day the charges were filed. Most criminal cases take months to resolve.

No judge in Johnson County could hear the case without a conflict of interest. The prosecutor's office couldn't handle it either, given that Cooper was their boss.

Brown took over the prosecution. The hearing was sent to Hancock County Judge Marshall.

The plea deal was entered on April 15, the day before a secret grand jury was prepared to convene to consider charges against Cooper.

While grand juries are secret, charges and plea hearings are typically public. 

The court and special prosecutor did not announce the charges before the hearing. Cooper was not arrested until he turned himself in after the plea agreement had been entered into the court record.

The victim has been silent since she released a statement through the Decatur County Prosecutor's Office on the day the charges were filed.

"Today, justice was served," she said. "Bradley made mistakes. He admitted to those mistakes in court and is now willing to accept responsibility. I forgive him. My prayer is that he will come out on the other side a better human being because of all of this."

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at 317-444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @VicRyc.