Sarasota murders: double murder was 'a crime of blunder' - Telegraph.co.uk

After dinner with Mr Cooper's family, Mr Cooper and Mr Kouzaris had gone drinking in downtown Sarasota.

^{James Cooper and James Kouzaris}

For an unexplained reason, rather than getting a cab back to Longboat Key where they were staying, the men started walking and ended up around two miles away in the public housing project known as The Courts.

But despite widespread speculation at the time that the Britons may have been lured to the area or were there to buy drugs, Mr Sutton said it was more likely a "crime of blunder".

"Murders can happen anywhere. Unlike most other crime, murders first of all are rare – often they are crimes of passion – but in this case often a crime of blunder."

He said Mr Kouzaris and Mr Cooper had simply taken a wrong turn – police found video footage showing them walking, after leaving the Gator Club in central Sarasota, unaccompanied by anyone else.

^{Shawn Tyson}

"The person who has been accused in this case is not some sophisticated criminal who is a mastermind," he said.

"He is a person who lives in the neighbourhood where the crime occurred and literally they walked from the Gator Club to his neighbourhood, which is how the two came to interact.

"They were probably trying to do a robbery and, as a result of not being good at doing a robbery, this happened.

"He didn't have to track them or lure them there because either one of them would be far more intelligent than our suspect."

Despite the bad press surrounding The Courts, Mr Sutton said its residents were key to solving the case.

"What they really walked into was a low-income residential neighbourhood, and what I have to say about that neighbourhood was if it was not for information provided by people who lived there, the case would not have been solved.

"The arrest was made because neighbours came forward and testified against one of their own neighbours."

Despite speculation over a gang link to the double murder, Mr Sutton said although there are some gangs in Sarasota, there was no known link to this case.

More tragically, he said it was a case of Mr Cooper and Mr Kouzaris being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Tragic incidents like this homicide can happen anywhere," he said.

"Once they happen, the only thing you can do is investigate it and try to bring justice to the families, that is what we have been trying to do."

Source: agencies