VERDICT: WV v. Natalie Cochran — Ponzi Scheme Murder Trial

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: one hour and 51 minutes into the deliberations the jury has a verdict in the case against Natalie Cochran let's go into the courtroom in West Virginia [00:00:11] Speaker 2: all right I am advised that the jury has a verdict all parties are present and the defendant is here I'll expect no outbursts when I read the verdict one way or another and I will direct the bailiffs to escort anyone out who violates this directive are there any matters that we need to discuss before we bring in the jury and receive the verdict no your honor thank you bring [00:00:54] Speaker 1: in the jury okay jury being brought in as you see it'll take them a little bit to get them in Chris Dr. Ramey watching in Los Angeles with us hour 51 a lot of times a quick verdict is beneficial to the defendant oh the jury has just walked into they're walking into the courtroom so hold your thought let's go back in and watch [00:01:25] Speaker 2: madam foreperson has the jury reached a verdict would you hand that verdict to the bailiff who will transmit it to the court would the defendant please rise in the case of state of West Virginia versus Natalie page Cochran case number 23 dash F dash 343 K the jury verdict is as follows we the jury on the issues joined unanimously found the following the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree the verdict for there are no marks on the portion of the verdict form pertaining to involuntary manslaughter. Does the state wish to examine the jury verdict form? Does the defense? No, Your Honor. You may be seated. Is there a request for the court to poll the jury? Not from the state. No, Your Honor. All right. The verdict is received by the court and directed to be recorded. I'll ask the state to prepare an appropriate order in the premises. The court accepts the jury verdict and finds this defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. The defense will be afforded a time to file all appropriate motions. And as we discussed earlier, we must have further proceedings concerning the aspect of mercy. I would like to do that right away and perhaps to commence this afternoon. I can afford the defense or the state two hours to prepare and we can go directly into the mercy phase. [00:03:57] Speaker 3: Your Honor, as we pointed out to the court, we cannot have our witnesses prepared in two hours. Specifically, we anticipate calling the children. They are not close by at all. They're in school. Well, Matthew. I've been corrected on that particular point, but we have to get in touch with our other witnesses. It will take considerable time to do that. We have to make sure they can get here. And we respectfully request to continue these proceedings and have the mercy portion sometime tomorrow. [00:04:57] Speaker 2: What sayeth the state, Mr. Truman? [00:05:04] Speaker 4: Your Honor, the state is preparing to go forward. We understand the defense situation. If they could proffer a number of witnesses they're going to have, that might be helpful. And if they can't start on [00:05:15] Speaker 2: today, we defer to the court's judgment. All right. Members of the jury, let me explain to you the circumstances. You have found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. There is another aspect that you must consider, and that is whether or not to afford to her mercy. If she receives mercy, she will be eligible for parole in 15 years. If she does not receive mercy, she will spend the rest of her life in prison. And that is a decision that you must determine. We must have a mini trial, so to speak. Further proceedings for you to hear additional evidence in that regard and make a determination. You will have to return another verdict in regard to that that matter. So the upshot of the situation is you are not finished with your responsibilities. And it is perhaps unfair to start into this right away and to force the attorneys to proceed in this very critical and important part of the proceedings. So it is such that we're going to start up at nine o'clock in the morning. And I hope you'll understand and I hope that you will continue to be cooperative and patient and considerate and proceed as you have already. You have been here promptly and you have provided service as jurors in the manner expected and the manner certainly request. So here's the the deal. I must still warn you and admonish you not to read anything, hear anything, talk to anyone about this case and by anyone I'm talking about your family members or friends because tomorrow is another day. And so far as you all all are concerned, and we will proceed further in regard to the mercy phase of this case. So you're not done and we need for you to come back. And you may be sad about that or maybe you're okay with that. I don't see anybody throwing tomatoes at me yet. So hopefully you'll understand you need to finish this out. We have much time invested in it and we simply need to bring it to a conclusion. And I will need you back in your jury room at 9am. I'll try to have a treat for you as a bribe for you to come back. And please follow my instructions. Don't watch anything on TV or see anything online. Or see anything online again for the purpose of this additional phase. I want you to have an open mind and to hear the evidence. So you can make this additional determination. I'll see anything on TV or see anything on TV or see anything on TV or what you must do in regard to mercy. But if you have any questions about the procedure or if you want to curse me, now would be the time to do that. I don't see any curses and I don't see anybody complaining too much. All right. I will need you back in your jury room tomorrow by nine. Anything further before I let the jury go for the day from the state? Not first day, Your Honor. No, Your Honor. Thank you. All right. You may follow the bailiff to your jury room and I'll see you in the morning at 9am. [00:09:32] Speaker 1: All right. There's the reaction from Natalie Cochran. Obviously very disappointed in this jury's decision. She will be spending a considerable amount of her life. We don't know if it'll be the rest of her life. Not yet. Jury will be back tomorrow to answer that question. The mercy or no mercy, which is West Virginia law. The jury has a say in the punishment phase. [00:09:56] Speaker 5: Julie Janai with me. Your thoughts as we watch the defendant wiping her tears. Wow, Ted. This was a verdict where I was holding my breath. I don't usually. Sometimes we have a pretty good idea of where things are going to go. And when you have this short verdict, hour and a half that they were deliberating, you know that it's one of those first vote type decisions. All the jury came into that deliberation room. They all said, what do you think it is? They either write it down on a piece of paper or they raised their hand. And it's across the board the same. Maybe they'll go through the jury instructions and go through this or that. But when it's that early, they all were on the same page from the beginning. But I didn't know if it meant no diagnosis means she's not guilty or is it so clear and so overwhelmingly obvious that she had the motive to kill her husband and clearly they believed everything the state said. They sure did. Yeah, it didn't take them long. There was no holdout or if there was, it was quickly rectified. And there you have it. Natalie Cochran guilty of first degree murder. [00:10:56] Speaker 1: We're going to get a break in here. We're hoping to get to Kelly Craft. She was in the courtroom for more of her observations. We'll also dissect this case and react. More reaction to Natalie Cochran being found guilty of first degree murder when we return. Stay with us. [00:11:13] Speaker 4: I'm Vinnie Politan. Welcome to Closing Arguments. What's happening here? It's unreal. Let me show you exactly what happened. [00:11:21] Speaker 6: Closing Arguments with Vinnie Politan tonight at 8, 7 central. Only on Court TV. [00:11:28] Speaker 7: This week, a Florida teen, a famous rapper and a Hollywood wife, all facing justice. We're breaking down what to expect each day in our biggest trials. [00:11:37] Speaker 6: Opening statements with Julie Grant. Mornings at 8, 7 central on Court TV. [00:11:44] Speaker 2: In the case of State of West Virginia v. Natalie Paige Cochran, case number 23-F-343-K, the jury verdict is as follows. We, the jury on the issues, joined unanimously find the following. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree. [00:12:15] Speaker 1: There you have it. If you're just joining us, Natalie Cochran found guilty of first degree murder, the top charge against her. The jury who found her guilty will be back tomorrow. They'll decide whether or not she has an opportunity for parole at some point after 15 years. Mercy or no mercy? That's the question that the jury is going to now have to ask or answer after they hear from both sides one more time. If they say no mercy, then Natalie Cochran will spend the rest of her life in a West Virginia penitentiary. This reminder, she is currently serving a sentence in federal prison because of the Ponzi scheme that she orchestrated and pled guilty to. And at the end of the day, this jury did not believe that her husband knew about the Ponzi scheme. That is a connection you likely can make because of their quick verdict under two hours. She orchestrated the Ponzi scheme and orchestrated his murder because he was about to find out. That was the state's case, and they seem to believe it. Julia Jenay is still with us and will be for the next several hours. Krista Ramey also with us, trial attorney, watching along in Los Angeles. All right, Krista, what's your reaction? [00:13:36] Speaker 8: You know, watching this trial, I thought that the defense did an excellent job, you know, on a specific point. Is that, you know, how did he die? You know, was it actually murder, but they clearly didn't do enough. And I think that it was because the evidence of the motive was so overwhelming here. And she, you know, is just, you know, you know, kind of vile and not liked probably by this jury in terms of, you know, it's all about greed and money. And her husband was about to find out. And so she took care of that, too. And just like she took care of everything else. So I think that it was a pretty, pretty solid statement of this jury. I agree with Julia that it was probably on that first ballot that they came to this conclusion. Or maybe there was one person that was on the fence, went through a little bit of the evidence and brought that person along. It's going to be very tough for them on the mercy phase because of this evidence of these other crimes that came in. And her motive is just pure greed. And I don't know how you get to mercy, you know, here. But, you know, they're going to try. They have overnight to do it. See what kind of evidence they put on tomorrow. [00:14:47] Speaker 1: I think, yeah, you have to rely on her kids, that this is a mother. And that would be the reason you would have mercy. But to Krista's point, if you believe the state's case, which they obviously did, then this woman is despicable. She has orchestrated, stole money from her friends, her family, everybody, and kept her husband in the dark somehow. That's the level of manipulation. And, boy, that rebuttal case was something else. [00:15:16] Speaker 5: So strong. And that's no doubt where the prosecution won this case. Because even we were analyzing this case and thinking towards the defense case that the state really hadn't proven beyond a reasonable doubt that she was the one who did this. Because there was not this clear medical examiner who could come in and say, this is how Michael Cochran died. But no doubt we're looking at her crying and her emotion. She's got to be thinking about her kids. They took the stand on her behalf. And maybe they'll have to take the stand again unless the defense just harkens back to them. But to say that this is their mother, they want to see her at some point, see the light of day outside of prison bars. Because they're the real victims here. You've got the Ponzi scheme. And, of course, Michael Cochran, he's a victim. But they are the ones who are left without a mother or a father. [00:16:05] Speaker 1: And, Krista, if the jury says mercy, it's because of the kids. But, really, in this case, because of the quick verdict and they seem to have bought into the whole thing, this is like the last person you want to let out in 15 years. And that's the only guidance that they get. It might be after 15 years. Clearly it would be longer because the parole board is never going to let anybody out the first time. But the jury is going to probably have reservations of saying, sure, let her out after 15 because she has two kids. Oh, I just lost. Oh, we just lost Krista. I just lost sound. But she was going to agree with me. I know it. [00:16:41] Speaker 8: I guess she was, for sure, Jeremy. But I think, to Ted's point, I think that there is a problem, that she is going to face a huge problem when it comes to the mercy rule because of all of this evidence of being a liar, being, you know, someone who cannot be trusted, and someone who would go to the extent of killing someone to cover up a financial crime is just a huge thing to get past. I don't know how you get there to mercy, you know, when you believe that she's done this. So, despite the fact that there is this, you know, there's going to be some pretty compelling evidence from her children. I think she's only 38 years old, you're going to have, you know, some really good evidence there that from the children that she would be a very young woman when she got out. Sure. You know, and we could still have time with her. We could still have time with her, with our grandchildren, with her grandchildren and whatnot.