ND - Anita Knutson, 18, murdered, Minot, 4 June 2007 *Roommate Arrested*

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Several members of both the Rice and Knutson families were in attendance in the gallery during closing arguments.

Earlier in the day, the defense brought testimony from one witness, the private investigator they hired in the case.

Rice elected not to testify in her own defense.

www.kfyrtv.com

Nichole Rice murder trial headed to jury

The case of State versus Nichole Rice is now in the hands of the jury.
www.kfyrtv.com www.kfyrtv.com
 
I haven't watched the trial, but I remember the Cold Justice episode and thought that the case against the room-mate was extremely weak, which is why it had, correctly IMO, not been prosecuted.
I was struck by the position of Anita's bedroom window where every person coming in and out of that building had a view in. Statistically it is far more likely that it was an attempted rape by a male who panicked and killed poor Anita. Perhaps someone she knew by sight from around the apartments and whom she could have identified.
A female room-mate stabbing another female to death is incredibly rare and I think it is likely that Rice is factually innocent and had the misfortune to be targeted by the prosecutors. I think the jury got it right.
 
@cathyrusson


VERDICT: Nichole Rice has been found NOT GUILTY in the 2007 murder of her roommate Anita Knutson. The courtroom erupted in chaos!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1904915689837912345



It's so interesting to watch how judges handle things so differently.


It proves that there is such thing as a perfect murder. Whether the killer was Nichole or someone else, it appears the killer got away with it.
 
@SieglerKelly

Nichole Rice found not guilty in Anita Knutson murder

https://twitter.com/x/status/1904946199427178642


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 deliberations at 3:05 p.m., March 25.

On March 26, a verdict was reached.



3/26/2025
 
How could they have found her not guilty when she knew information about the crime scene that wasn’t released to the public? This just makes me sick. She’ll get in trouble again. And I hope Anita’s family sues the police dept for their shoddy investigation and conveniently losing witness reports.
 
Just heard of this case. Did the defense ever explain how she knew things about the murder that weren't released? And did Nichole have access to a lot of money? It reminded me of the Ramsey's hiring their own people to investigate that they were innocent.
 
I have not gone over the fine details in this case but I’ve seen both episodes; cold justice and dateline. I cannot say much with limited information and the fact that Nichole was found not guilty. What I can say is that I pray for Anita’s family and friends who seemed to have lost a beautiful and vibrant soul. I hope that they are somehow able to move forward with some sort of peace knowing they might meet again one day. It saddens me that Anita’s brother took his own life as well.

It’s cases like these that really are a gut punch. I mean, no justice for the family but if the accused is not guilty and were found guilty, more lives are forever changed. I just hope the right verdict was reached.
 
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