GRAND FORKS, ND (KXNET) — After roughly five hours of deliberation over two days, the jury in the Nichole Rice murder trial Wednesday has returned a verdict of not guilty.
Rice cried when the verdict was read. Audible gasps and shocked outbursts could be heard among those in attendance.
The jury began deliberations at 3:05 p.m., Tuesday.
At 6:10 p.m., pizza was brought in for the jurors as they continued considering the evidence and testimony in the case.
After four and a half hours, at 7:30 p.m., the jury recessed for the night, picking up on deliberations at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday.
An hour later, they came back with their verdict.
Rice was charged in the June 4, 2007 murder of Anita Knutson in a Minot apartment both Rice and Knutson shared.
Knutson was stabbed twice in the chest. A bloody knife was found in the room and the knife had apparently been used to cut a corner of the screen in the room window, reportedly in an effort to make it appear that the killer had entered and left the room through the window.
The case went cold for several years. Minot Police officials said, while Rice was considered a “person of interest” in the murder, there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest her.
In 2022, a crew from the television show, “Cold Justice,” came to Minot in 2022 to film a segment on the Anita Knutson killing. With assistance from the show’s investigators, police felt they had developed enough evidence to arrest a suspect and, on March 16, 2022, they arrested Nichole Rice and charged her with Knutson’s killing.
The trial was moved from Minot to Grand Forks because
The trial began March 17, with jury selection. Opening statements and testimony began March 18.
The state argued the evidence pointed specifically to Nicole Rice, noting short “confessions” she made on several occasions, evidence of a rapidly deteriorating relationship between roommates Rice and Knutson, inconsistent statements made by Rice over the years, and Rice knowing about certain evidence in the case that had not been released to the public. The state also said all other leads with several possible persons of interest were investigated and methodically ruled out.
The defense called only one witness: James Douglas Kouns, a former FBI investigator who now owns a private investigation firm, as its expert witness. Kouns essentially testified that police failed to follow up on leads that pointed to other credible suspects in the 2007 murder of Anita Knutson other than Nichole Rice. The defense also argued police were sloppy and rushed in their investigation and settled on Rice only after feeling public pressure from their failure to crack the decades-long cold case and the national publicity coming from the “Cold Case” involvement.
On March 24, the state rested its case and, the following day, the state also rested. Following closing arguments, the jury began deliberation at 3:05 p.m., March 25.
