After years of investigation, delays, dropped indictments and new charges, the fate of Natalie Cochran’s murder trial finally rests in the hands of a jury.
Cochran is a former Beckley pharmacist accused of murdering her husband Michael Cochran in 2019. She is currently serving a federal prison sentence in connection to financial crimes she pleaded guilty to in 2020.
Shortly before 5 p.m., both sides concluded their closing arguments and the judge turned the case over to the jury. He gave them the option of beginning deliberations immediately and working into the evening or starting fresh in the morning. After a brief discussion, the jury decided to start work again in the morning.
The court spent much of the morning today taking up legal matters, including how the judge should instruct the jury and the evidence used in the state’s questioning of its one rebuttal witness, Robert Hinzeman.
Hinzeman previously took the stand as a witness during the state’s case in chief. He is the former lead investigator into Natalie Cochran’s financial crime charges.
His primary testimony was to rebut the testimony of the Cochran children, who both testified that Michael Cochran did know about the fraudulent business and was in fact the one in charge.
Hinzeman testified that it wasn’t true. According to his investigation, Michael Cochran believed his business to be legitimate and had no knowledge of Natalie Cochran’s fraudulent activity.
After his testimony, the judge read the jury 18 pages worth of instructions, and closing arguments began.
In its closing arguments, the state laid out the case it has been making: that Natalie Cochran murdered Michael Cochran with insulin to prevent him from finding out the full extent of her fraudulent behavior and turning her in.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ashley Acord took the jury through the timeline of events leading up to Michael Cochran’s collapse, of the hours Michael Cochran spent unconscious in the house before being taken to the hospital, and the results of the subsequent investigation.
“You may not have done the math, but I have,” Acord told the jury. “Next Thursday will be six years to the day since [Natalie] injected Michael Cochran with insulin in his home. Five days after that, it will be six years since he left the earth. Six years since two children lost their father. Six years since this woman, Donna Bolt, and this man, Ed Bolt, lost their son. Six years since they saw him for the last time.”
In the defense’s closing argument, defense attorney Matthew Victor continued the narrative that the defense has used the entire trial: that the state has no coherent theory for the alleged murder of Michael Cochran and has in fact presented multiple theories.
Victor argued that the state’s expert witnesses presented opinions and guesses and did not actually know what had happened to Michael Cochran.
Further, the defense pushed back against the state, saying that Michael Cochran did in fact know about Natalie Cochran’s fraudulent activity and was involved in it.
Victor also said that Michael Cochran had serious health issues and was deteriorating in the weeks leading to his death.
“We have no reason to come here and hide anything from you ladies and gentlemen. Mrs. Cochran is not someone that you would invite home to have dinner with,” Victor said. “If you can not answer these three questions, what, how, and foremost, why, then the state fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In a brief rebuttal, Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman said the defense has zero evidence for any of its explanations of Michael Cochran’s sudden death.
The jury will begin deliberations tomorrow at 9 a.m.