The prosecution has rested its case at the trial of a woman charged in connection with the 2014 murder, dismemberment, and dumping of 53-year-old Michigan resident Christopher Regan in Iron County, MI. On Friday, the defense will take its turn and try to prove that the accused, 34-year-old Kelly Marie Cochran, is not the monster prosecutors made her out to be and they may eve call the defendant herself to the stand to testify.
Cochran faces charges related to the death of Regan, who police have said they believe was shot and killed by Cochran’s late husband after he came home to “find” Regan with her. Police say the entire “caught in the act” thing was simply a ruse and Regan was lured to the home where he was murdered. Cochran is accused of then helping chop up Regan’s body and dumping it in the deep woods in northern Michigan.
She faces a life sentence in the charge of homicide-open murder; up to a 10-year sentence on charges of conspiracy to commit dead bodies-dismemberment and mutilation; five years for concealing the death of an individual; five-years for accessory after the fact to a felony; four-years for larceny in a building; and four years for lying to a peace officer-violent crime investigation.
The trial was originally expected to last three weeks, but is now running ahead of schedule after the prosecution dropped five witnesses it had planned to call and rested on Thursday. However, before resting, the prosecution called one more key witness on Thursday — a detective with the Hobart Police Department who interrogated the defendant after she was eventually arrested outside of Michigan.
Detective Jeremy Ogden testified that he was able to get Cochran to admit that she had a “murder pact” with her former husband — meaning if one of them had an affair, the spouse that cheated was responsible for killing the lover.
“And then if that person didn’t kill the lover, then the spouse was entitled [to kill both parties].” Detective Ogden explained. He then testified that Kelly gave that pact as the reason her former husband killed Regan in this case snd she essentially admitted to not living up to her end of the bargain.
Ogden also testified that it was Cochran who called off the original plan to murder Regan at another location because it would leave a mess. Therefore, Ogden testified, Cochran convinced her former husband to wait one day and to commit the murder at her residence. However, Ogden said when it came time to kill Regan, Cochran. got cold feet, so she had sex with him. According to the detective, Cochran’s goal was to get her former husband angry enough that he would kill Regan.
Sure enough, it worked.
Ogden testified that during the police interview Cochran admitted the murder happened right in the middle of her having sexual relations with the victim.
Additional witnesses were called on Thursday, but none as compelling as Detective Ogden.
After the prosecutions case ended on Thursday, Cochran’s defense attorney told the court that he may very well call his client, the defendant Kelly Cochran, to the testify on the stand first thing in the morning on Friday. Calling Cochran to the witness stand has the potential to be quite a spectacle so make sure to stick with LawNewz for all the courtroom action live.
Nearly 16 months after Regan’s death, police in Indiana accused Cochran of killing her then-husband (Jason, the man police say shot Regan), and of attempting to cover up the death as though it was a heroin overdose. She faces separate charges in Indiana related to that death and while in jail she has reportedly claimed responsibility for additional deaths, though police have been unable to verify any additional claims at this time.
[image via screengrab]