… while her case was being argued in
the Indiana Supreme Court [by Cooper’s
original attorney].”
The case turned into a worldwide
uproar that drew millions of signatures
in support of Cooper; triggered protests
in Rome, where capital punishment was
outlawed; and prompted Pope John Paul
II to formally condemn the death sentence
for the girl known in Italy simply as “Paula.”
In 1989, after the Indiana Legislature
raised the minimum age for a defendant
in a capital case from 10 to 16 years old,
Cooper’s sentence was commuted to 60
years in prison.
By that time, Foster was developing
a reputation as a savvy death penalty
litigator. Robert Hill, chief public defender
for Marion County, sought her advice in
his first capital case in the late 1980s.
She spent many hours coaching him,
offering ideas and steering him away from
potential mistakes. The result: The jury
unanimously opted for a life sentence
instead of execution. “It was successful
in large part due to Monica,” says Hill,
who describes Foster as “tenacious,
hardworking, intelligent and, most of all,
caring.” Since then, he says, “I’ve had 26
death penalty cases and I’ve consulted
with her on every one of them. She’s the
go-to person.”
Foster’s dream of arguing before
the U.S. Supreme Court came true in
November 1993, when she became the
state’s first female attorney to defend
a criminal case in the nation’s highest
court. Convicted of raping and strangling
an Evansville woman in her home in
1981, Thomas Shiro had exhausted all
but one sentencing appeal by the time
Foster shouldered the case. She lost
her Supreme Court argument but later
convinced the Indiana Supreme Court
to reduce Shiro’s sentence to 60 years
in prison under a rare successor post-
conviction relief appeal.
