Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson said her office is in the process of extraditing Donald Lee Cooper Jr., 28, back from Wisconsin to face accomplice to murder and attempted murder charges in Minot.

Cooper is currently in custody at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wis., where is serving a 25-year sentence for reckless homicide in Milwaukee, Wis., where he fled after the Jan. 12, 2020, shooting death in Minot of Dominick Stephens.

According to court documents in the Ward County case, Cooper and co-defendant Michael Lamart Dennis II had been involved in a physical altercation with Stephens’ passenger at an area hotel. That led to a car chase throughout northwest Minot, with Cooper and Dennis firing at the car driven by Stephens. The car Cooper and Dennis were in was driven by Marcus Jermaine Lee. Stephens was shot twice in the back and crashed his vehicle into a boulder in front of the Minot State University Dome at 6:07 a.m. on Jan. 12, 2020. Stephens was killed and his passenger was not injured.

After the shooting, Cooper called a friend and told her he had done something dumb and needed her help. The friend, Sheridan Simms, drove Cooper to Milwaukee on Jan. 13, 2020, according to court documents in her case. Cooper went through a red light and crashed into another vehicle in April 2020 while he was fleeing U.S. marshals in Milwaukee. Two people in the other vehicle were killed. Cooper pleaded guilty to the second degree reckless homicide charges in Wisconsin in November 2020 and was sentenced in February to 19 years on one count, with a requirement that he serve 13 years, followed by six years of probation. On the second count, which is consecutive to the first sentence, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with a requirement that he serve 12 years, followed by six years of probation. He received credit for 320 days he had already served in the Milwaukee County Jail.

A letter to the Ward County State’s Attorney from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections indicates that “Ward County will be notified when Mr. Cooper approaches his release date. At this time release to Extended Supervision is 3-27-2045, and Maximum Discharge is 3-27-2057,” according to a letter to Larson from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Cooper has not requested “final disposition” of the cases against him in Ward County, according to the letter.

However, Larson said in an email on Thursday that Cooper will be extradited back to North Dakota.

Simms entered an Alford plea to the offense of driving Cooper to Milwaukee in August 2020 and was sentenced to 360 days in jail, all suspended but the 164 days she had already served in jail, and two years of supervised probation. The Alford plea means she maintains her innocence but acknowledges there was enough evidence to prove her guilt if the case went to trial. Dennis and Lee pleaded guilty and were sentenced earlier. Dennis is serving 20 years and Lee is serving 15 years in prison.