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EXHIBIT 37
Case 2:OO—cv—O1118—NVW Document 111-9 Filed O3/28/2007 Page1 of 3

DECLARATION of
KYLE COOPER
l. I knew Steven James when we were children. We both attended Campo Bello
Elementary, and we were in the same grade. My first memories of him are in
fourth through sixth grades, although I may have known him earlier.
2. Steven was overweight, struggled academically, and was not athletically gifted.
Many of the other kids were mean to him. They picked on him all the time and
they called him names.
3. Steven wanted to be accepted by the other children at our school, but he didn’t
know how. The more he tried, the more they ridiculed him.
4. Once, a group of kids dared him to kill and eat a fly. He did it, thinking it would
get them to like him. But the girls just ran away and the boys laughed at him and
teased him even more.
5. I became Steven’s friend, feeling sorry for him. I wondered how he would ever
make it in life, with no skills and no self·confidence.
6. I invited Steven to my house several times, where he met my parents. My mother,
Cheryl Cooper, still remembers him.
7. I went to Steven’s house about a half-dozen times, and I got to know his parents.
They were much older than other kids’ parents, more like grand-parents.
8. Steven’s father took Steven and me duck hunting around the time we were in sixth
grade. I remember how happy Steven was that day, and I wondered if it was the
happiest day of his life.
9. We drifted apart in middle school, as we really didn’t have much in common. I
don’t remember him at Greenway Junior High School or Paradise Valley High
School. I went to college and became a police officer, and later a wildlife manager
for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, where I am still employed. I did not
learn about Steven’s murder case until long after he had been convicted.
Case 2:00- - - .
cv 01118 NVW Document 111-9 Filed 03/28/2007 Page 2 of 3

l0. I remember seeing Steven once after grade school. It was probably in the late
l970s. He drove up to my home on an old motorcycle, looking sciuffy and
unkenipt. I didn’t recognize him at first, but he wanted to visit with nie, to be
friends again. It was good to see him but we didn’t have anything in common, and
I never saw him again.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
. i {W .
Executed on /[/ 64 7 , 2007 I V is ' V
KYLE C _ PER i
C · - - - .
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Case 2:00-cv-01118-NVW

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