Heather Cook

Heather Elizabeth Cook (born September 21, 1956) is a former bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She was a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Maryland until her resignation from the position in 2015. In September 2015, she pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced a month later to seven years in prison.

Ordained ministry

In 2014, Cook was the first woman elected by the diocese to become a bishop and she was consecrated as suffragan to Eugene Sutton.^[1][2] Cook was one of four finalists for the office of suffragan bishop^[3] and was elected on the fourth ballot.^[4] She was the 1,081st bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church.

Traffic fatality

Cook was placed on administrative leave at the end of 2014 after involvement in a traffic fatality in north Baltimore.^[5] She was charged with drunk driving, texting while driving, and leaving the scene of the crime, in addition to vehicular manslaughter in the death of cyclist Thomas Palermo.^[6] On January 22, 2015, the standing committee of the diocese requested that Cook resign her position.^[7] This was followed by the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, placing formal restrictions on Cook preventing her from presenting herself as an ordained minister of the Episcopal Church.^[8]

Cook was arraigned on more than a dozen charges—including manslaughter, DUI, and leaving the scene of an accident. At the arraignment hearing on April 2, 2015, she entered a plea of not guilty and a trial date was set for June 4, 2015.^[9]

On June 4, 2015, the trial was postponed to September 9, 2015.^[10]

On May 1, 2015, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop, announced that both she and the Diocese of Maryland had accepted Cook's resignation as a bishop and as an employee of the diocese. Moreover, it was announced that Cook and the church had reached an accord where Cook received a "Sentence of Deposition" which stripped her of her right to exercise any ordained ministry within the Episcopal Church.^[11] Following Cook's resignation Sutton and the standing committee named Chilton R. Knudsen as Assistant Bishop for the Diocese of Maryland.^[12]

On September 8, 2015, state prosecutors and Cook agreed to a plea bargain. Cook pleaded guilty, and the prosecutors asked for a twenty-year sentence (with ten years suspended).^[13] On October 27, 2015, she was sentenced to seven years in prison, and was taken into custody immediately afterwards.^[14]

References

1. ↑ Episcopal Diocese of Md. elects first woman bishop, Baltimore Sun, retrieved February 16, 2015 
2. ↑ Episcopal News Service — Maryland diocese ordains Heather Elizabeth Cook as bishop suffragan (Accessed 26 June 2015)
3. ↑ Nominees – The Diocese of Maryland, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, retrieved February 16, 2015 
4. ↑ Report from the 230th Diocesan Convention, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, retrieved February 16, 2015 
5. ↑ Baltimore Sun
6. ↑ Baltimore Brew website.
7. ↑ Letter to Bishop Cook Requesting Resignation (PDF), Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, retrieved February 16, 2015 
8. ↑ Presiding Bishop further restricts ministry of Heather Cook, Episcopal Church, retrieved February 16, 2015 
9. ↑ Miller, Jayne (2015), Trial date set for Bishop Heather Cook, Baltimore, Maryland: WBAL-TV 11, retrieved 2015-04-18 
10. ↑ New trial date set for Bishop Heather Cook, Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Sun Newspaper, 2015, retrieved 2015-07-14 
11. ↑ Dual actions end Heather Cook's ordained ministry, employment, Episcopal News Service, 2015, retrieved 2015-05-01 
12. ↑ Maryland diocese names Chilton R. Knudsen as assistant bishop, Episcopal News Service, 2015, retrieved 2015-05-20 
13. ↑ Ex-bishop who killed cyclist pleads guilty to manslaughter, Associated Press, 2015, retrieved 2015-09-09 
14. ↑ Duncarr, Ian (October 27, 2015), Former Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook sentenced to 7 years in drunk-driving death of cyclist, Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Sun, retrieved October 27, 2015