In a plea deal reached Monday, lawyers for former University of Wisconsin student Alec Cook said he will plead guilty to five criminal charges largely involving sexual assault and stalking against female UW students.
The plea deal came days before the first of Cook’s seven trials was set to begin early next week. The trial, which was to be held in Jefferson County, was set to try Cook on six counts involving sexual aggression with a female UW student.
First three of six trials against Cook scheduled for early 2018
In the plea deal reached Monday, Cook’s attorneys said he will forgo his upcoming trials and will instead plead guilty to five of the 21 outstanding charges against him.
Cook now waits roughly three months for a sentencing hearing, following a pre-sentencing investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
The plea deal would dissolve the seven trials Cook currently faces. While the remaining counts against Cook would be dismissed, Cook’s attorneys said the judges could still take those counts into consideration when sentencing him.
Cook’s attorneys said the deal was reached in light of ongoing negotiations between the state’s prosecuting attorneys and Cook’s legal team, and after judges ruled earlier this year that Cook’s notebooks could not be used as evidence in his trials.
Judges said the notebooks, which detailed Cook’s sexual improprieties, were outside the purview granted to detectives in a search warrant of Cook’s apartment.
