BECKLEY, W.Va. — Raleigh County prosecutors say at the end of the day, they feel like justice was served after a convicted murderer was found guilty in a nearly two-week-long trial.
Natalie Cochran was sentenced to life in prison Thursday following the jury’s decision to not grant her mercy.
Raleigh County Prosecutor Tom Truman said he’s satisfied with the outcome.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Truman said. “We did the best we can and it turned out a good result from the state’s perspective.”
On Wednesday, the same jury convicted Cochran of first degree murder for giving her husband Michael Cochran a lethal dose of insulin in 2019.
Truman said he can never predict what a jury is going to do, but he’s relieved it went in the direction it did.
He also said, had this case happened in 1994, they couldn’t have tried it.
“There was a Supreme Court decision in 1995 that changed the law in West Virginia, so we happened to be in the right place at the right time to bring justice for Michael Cochran and his family,” he said.
Friends and family of Natalie as well as friends and family of Michael testified all day Wednesday with her mother pleading to the court to grant her daughter mercy.
Natalie’s son and daughter also took the stand to plead for mercy for their mother.
Truman said he’s unsure why the jury chose not to grant her mercy, but perhaps it’s because they simply saw through the lies she told.
“I think, first of all, the nature of her actions, deception after deception after deception,” Truman said. “If character was an issue, she had an uphill battle, once she was convicted.”
Raleigh County Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Acord said she too was satisfied with the outcome.
“We have worked on this tirelessly, it has been, like Tom said, an uphill battle,” Acord said. “I am so happy that this jury saw through her and saw through what she is, I’m sorry for her family and for her children that they have to live with this now knowing that she will be behind bars for the rest of her life, but I do believe this is justice served.”
Truman added that this case was a huge file and there was a lot of information to take in.
Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick sent Cochran straight to prison Thursday evening. A post trial hearing has been set for February 25 at 9 a.m.