An admitted cop killer and mentally ill man avoided the possibility of the death penalty with a Fulton County plea bargain that states he will die behind bars, District Attorney Paul Howard said Monday.
Robert M. Cook, 49, pleaded guilty to killing Lt. Michael Vogt of Chattahoochee Hills police on Feb. 15, 2010.
Howard quoted Chattahoochee Chief Matthew Rook as calling the sentence “appropriate.”
“It’s ironic that by the defendant’s own admission, he murdered Lt. Vogt to avoid going to jail for DUI,” Rook was quoted in a statement released by the DA’s office. “Now, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
Cook pleaded guilty Friday to murder and aggravated assault on a police officer in addition to other charges, including possession of a machine gun in the killing of the 56-year-old Vogt.
Vogt was shot on Vernon Grove Road while en route to another call. He found Cook on a dirt road near Hutcheson Ferry Road and asked for his driver’s license “but was instead met with a barrage of bullets from the defendant’s high-powered weapon,” Howard said in the emailed statement.
Cook, of Fairburn, was captured by the Georgia State Patrol SWAT team two days later after a tip to police ended a massive manhunt.
A tipster told authorities Cook owned a fully automatic assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammo, said Damon Jones, who was then chief of the Chattahoochee Hills Police Department.
Howard said he offered the plea deal after “extensive discussions” with Vogt’s family and police.
“It was appropriate to allow the defendant to plead guilty to a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole because of the defendant’s mental condition,” Howard’s email said. “Cook suffers from bipolar disorder and on the day of the shooting was under the influence of six different medications.”
About the Author
