BECKLEY, W.Va. — Jury deliberations begin Wednesday morning in the murder trial of former Raleigh County pharmacist Natalie Cochran.
The jury heard closing arguments from the prosecution and the defense throughout the course of the afternoon Tuesday before Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick adjourned the court until 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Cochran is accused of giving a lethal dose of insulin to her husband, Michael Cochran, 38, in 2019 once he began raising questions about the Ponzi scheme she was operating through the couple’s defense contracting business.
In her closing argument, Raleigh County assistant prosecuting attorney Ashley Accord said this was a pre-meditated murder.
“This woman, Natalie Cochran, feloniously, willfully, maliciously, deliberately, and with pre-meditation killed her husband, Michael Cochran,” Accord said.
The state rested its case last Wednesday after bringing in Forensic Pathologist Dr. Paul Uribe, who concluded, after conducting a second autopsy of Michael Cochran’s body, that he died from insulin.
On Monday, the defense rested after their expert witnesses, Forensic Pathologists Ljubisa Dragovic and Dr. Prya Banerjee, said Cochran’s death was “undetermined and undeterminable.”
Defense attorney Matthew Victor said on Tuesday that the prosecution does not have the appropriate amount of evidence to convict.
“The state cannot answer or prove beyond reasonable doubt the ‘how, how did that happen? How did this murder happen?” Victor said.
Victor, in his closing argument Tuesday, also brought up that Michael Cochran had been taking over two dozen supplements per day, as testified by the couple’s juvenile son. Victor also brought up claims that Michael Cochran was receiving supplements from out of the country, some of which were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
On Monday, Natalie Cochran turned her head in court as a photo of her husband’s body was shown after his remains were exhumed.
Victor says that this is not a murder, but rather a tragedy.
“Not for a moment should you think that the defense is taking his death lightly,” Victor said. “It’s a horrible tragedy, but a tragedy, not a murder.”
Meanwhile, Accord believes the evidence is there for the jury to convict. In her final remarks, she brought up the fact that Cochran did not aid her husband or take him to the hospital right after he had gone unconscious in February 2019.
Early in the trial, it was determined Cochran had a vial in her refrigerator months after her husband’s death, which was tested and determined to contain insulin.
“Natalie Cochran had the means, knowledge and opportunity to commit this crime,” Accord said.
The trial is being streamed on Court TV.