Murder of Stanley Cohen XIII

Could a seemingly perfect life hide a dark, deadly secret? Join us as we unravel the gripping murder trial of Joyce Cohen, accused of orchestrating the violent death of her husband, Stan Cohen. Central to this courtroom drama is the enigmatic Lynn Barkley, who takes the stand to deny any involvement in the murder despite his close ties to Joyce. As Barkley paints a picture of marital discord sparked by alleged infidelity, the courtroom buzzes with tension and intrigue.

As the trial marches towards its climax, we turn our attention to the strategic maneuvers of both the prosecution and defense. With the absence of key witness Bernard A. House, the prosecution faces an uphill battle in proving Joyce's guilt, while the defense seizes every opportunity to magnify the reasonable doubts surrounding the case. Attorney Alan Ross passionately argues for Joyce's innocence, casting shadows of doubt on the prosecution's star witness and the timeline of the night in question. Each side's narrative is crafted with precision, aiming to sway the jury's decision in this high-stakes trial.

Finally, we stand at the precipice, waiting with bated breath for the jury's verdict. An atmosphere thick with anticipation envelops the courtroom as all await the outcome that could change lives forever. In addition to the courtroom theatrics, we delve into the mysterious past of Joyce LeMay Cohen to uncover the motivations and circumstances that led to this tragic event. Join us as we peel back the layers of this complex legal drama and seek to understand the true story behind Stan Cohen's untimely death.

Transcript

Speaker 1 1:23

Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, cara, and we continue with the murder of Stan Cohen. Let's begin. There was one more witness. The courtroom spectators were anxious to see, lynn Barkley. Lynn Barkley was Joyce Cohen's one-time lover and alleged but uncharged accomplice in the murder of her husband. He was tall, gray and blonde hair and he looked slightly rumpled even though he was dressed with a suit and tie. Still, he was good looking and it was easy to imagine that Joyce might once have found him attractive.

Speaker 1 2:13

Ross brought up the alleged murder conspiracy soon after Lynn Barkley took the stand and he asked Did you ever, ever have anything to do with the conspiracy to murder Stan Cohen? He said. Lynn Barkley replied confidently absolutely not. And Ross showed the witness a photograph of Frank Zuccarello and he said ever see this person before? And Barkley took the picture, put his glasses on to examine the picture and he said absolutely not. And then he showed him a photograph of Tony Lamberti. Ever seen this person? Absolutely not, he replied, so not. Barkley stated that had he ever seen Anthony Caracciolo or had any meeting at a 7-Eleven?

Speaker 1 3:06

Barkley described his relationship with defendant Joyce Cohen as socially friends. Russ asked did you ever had a sexual encounter? And he said yes, only one time. It was after a dinner at the Cohen's home and they had sat on the couch talking and drinking wine and, as Barkley admitted, on cross snorting a little cocaine. So he was asked did you ever had a conversation about killing Stan or ever give a sketch of the house to anyone? And he said absolutely not, it's all hogwash. And he told the jury that he had run into Joyce unexpectedly the day before Stan was murdered. They had a drink talk over a prospective business venture. Then the conversation turned personal. Joyce had told Barkley that she wanted a divorce. Stan was having an affair, she said, and she had not had sex with her husband for the past two years.

Speaker 1 4:10

The next morning Barkley had seen police cars at the Cohens' home and he said that he stopped to see if there was anything he could do and see what happened. And Ross asked his witness did you say to the police officer, did she finally kill him? And he said absolutely not. That's just nonsense. And he even looked disgusted. The police had grilled him for an entire day and he was being accused of being Joyce Cohen's lover. And he said if one physical encounter constitutes a lover, then there's a lot of us in trouble. And then they asked. He said they asked me to take a light detector test, which I agreed to do and did and have had to pay for. And that's when Kastanakis yelled, leaping to his feet, and Judge Smith told Ross ask your next question. And the spectators who had sat through the Patty Bartell episode knew what the problem was.

Speaker 1 5:24

Testimony about polygraph tests was off limits, with the jury and the witness excused from the courtroom. Again, castronakis moved to exclude any testimony about Barclay's interview with Warren Holmes, the polygraphist who tested Barclay and passed him. And Ross argued that it was already before the jury. So, on redirect, he said I should be allowed to inquire as to the circumstances under which the statements were made. And Castaneda gave him to the judge and said Barkley salutes Cannon, he wants to tell the jury about the polygraph. And Judge Smith made the comment well, it is already before the jury If he only says that it's before the jury already. So Mr Ross, on redirect, asked leading questions in this area and I will admonish the witness to listen carefully and answer only what he is asked. So Ross called Barkley back to the witness stand and Mr Barkley, the judge, said please answer only the question being asked and he replied yes, ma'am.

Speaker 1 6:46

So the jurors filed back into the jury box and after a few preliminary questions, ross asked who was present when you made the statement to Warren Holmes? And Barclay said well, there were two detectives and an attorney, but not when I was taking the polygraph test, and an attorney but not when I was taking the polygraph test. So there was again. And Judge Smith looked stern. Castronakis was on the edge of his seat. Was the statement recorded? Ross continued and Judge Smith warned again and make it clear, when the witness and Warren Holmes were alone. And Ross agreed yes, how was the statement recorded? And Barkley began I was on the polygraph machine. And that's when Castro asked again. He was furious, said objection, objection. So the attorneys moved to the bench for sidebar. Lynn Barkley slouched in his seat and yawned. He gazed about the courtroom. He looked like he was bored.

Speaker 1 7:56

Gary Cohen, who had sat stoically through the long weeks of trial, finally lost his temper. He bolted from his seat in the gallery and stalked out of the courtroom. The door slammed angrily behind him. Outside in the corridor Gary fumed. That was so predictable. Judge Smith was letting Alan Ross and Lynn Barkley get away with murder in there. He complained, although he was a lawyer himself, he had now lost all faith in the criminal justice system. It seemed the victim had no rights here, only the defendant. It was a mockery of justice and he was deeply disgusted by the antics of the attorneys. And he said makes you proud to be a lawyer, doesn't it? Inside the courtroom, lynn Barkley's testimony wound to a close and Josh Smith announced you may be excused. And Barkley stepped and said thank you so much. And as Barkley walked by the defense table he turned to face Joyce and mouthed what looked like see you later. She smiled slightly as he passed.

Speaker 1 9:13

The trial was recessed for lunch and for the first time in weeks Joyce looked relaxed and even happy. Things were going well. She chatted with the friends who stopped to speak to her and there were awkward moments when everyone trooped down to the pickle barrel on the first floor of the Metropolitan Justice Building, the only place to get a quick lunch, the dip division amongst Stanley Cohen's friends, many of whom were witnesses or spectators. The gallery of the courtroom resembled the seating at a shotgun wedding. Joyce's friends sat behind a defense table, while Jerry Huffman and her supporters occupied the opposite side of the gallery, near the press section, gary Cohen and Uncle Artie Stan's wheelchair-bound brother, staked out neutral territory at the center of the courtroom.

State's Closing Argument and Witness Testimony

Speaker 1 10:12

That night Jerry was deeply depressed. She felt the tide turning against the prosecution. Joyce, her hated stepmother, might actually get away with it after all. For Jerry, the trial had rekindled all the old pain, the unresolved feelings about her father. She was seeing a psychiatrist to help her through this difficult time. Most nights, when she came home from the trial, jerry clung to her baby son Douglas, as the one glimmer of hope in her life and she told herself I'll get through this. The trial would end and when it's all over I'll still have Douglas, no matter what. But the stress of the trial and the long years leading up to it was taking its toll on her. Jerry had a bad cold and that night she could not even hold her son. She cried herself into a troubled sleep.

Speaker 1 11:13

Judge Frederica Smith was alone in her chambers at night working late on the court trial. She recalled that she had left an important document on the trial bench. That afternoon, when she walked into the deserted, shadowy courtroom to retrieve it, she was suddenly overcome by a sense of wrenching human emotion. It seemed the very walls of the courtroom had absorbed the violence, the anguish, the misery that play out there during the day. She could almost hear the voices of all the people who had passed before her echoes thrown back by those walls. At night, when no one else was there, judge Smith shivered and hurried back to her chambers After an exhausting day of trial, duke Gregory and Krastrenakis.

Speaker 1 12:05

The prosecutors worked far into the night on the state's closing argument. They had to consolidate the lengthy trial for the jury to lead them to the inespicable conclusion that Joyce was guilty. What should they emphasize? She had lied about what happened. They were certain, and perhaps the most demonstrable lie was about the time the murder took place. But had they proved beyond every reasonable doubt that Cohen died between 2 and 3 am rather than 5.30 am?

Speaker 1 12:42

In Kasternacki's mind, bernard A House was the key to the case. Castaner's mind, bernard A House was the key to the case, the linchpin, the link they have thought for more than two years. Here was a witness, he argued, whose credibility should be unassailable. He was completely disinterested. He knew none of the participants and had nothing to gain. Surely the jury would recognize the value of A-House's testimony that he heard shots at 3 am, together with Dr Wetley and Jerry Mondina, who had heard only the sound of breaking glass around 5 am.

Speaker 1 13:21

A-house supported Frank Zuccarello's story. If the jury believed these witnesses, they knew Joyce had lied and if she had lied, of course she was guilty. Did Gregory play devil's advocate? Ahas, he reminded Castrellanakis, had not even come to court to testify, so the jury couldn't look into his eyes and evaluate him as they had the other witnesses. They had to rely on a videotape, which was much less compelling than in-person testimony. What would the jury made of the fact that Ahouse had not show up and Dr Wedley himself was vulnerable? What if Dr Poole was disturbed by his change of professional opinion? What if Dr Poole was disturbed by his change of professional opinion, for that matter? What if Poole, the radiologist didn't see any lividity on the slides? Jerry Mandina seems solid, but what about Zuccarello? They have discussed his shortcomings as a witness a hundred times.

Speaker 1 14:29

What it came down to, degregory said, was that Ross had an answer for everything. There was so much conflicted testimony. If the jury made even one wrong determination, the case could be lost. How could they guide the jury through that maze? All it took was a single reasonable doubt and Joyce would walk. They had to fight for every fact and every inference. Nothing could be conceded. But Could they come up with something else? Castronakis wondered A shortcut, a single fail-safe sequence of events that could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and that would let the jury escape the morass of conflicted evidence. After a while Castronakis said well, I think I got it.

Speaker 1 15:24

So after more than a month of trial, one question remained Would Joyce Cohen take the stand in her own defense, out of the jury's earshot? Kevin DeGregory asked Alan Ross directly. I won't say right now. He replied you know, this isn't really a game and this is the judge talking. If you call Mrs Cohen, would you be calling her today? And he said yes. Then Ross laid his final cards on the table. His client would testify if, and only if, she would be permitted to tell the jury about the two polygraph tests she had passed. Degregory objected vehemently and he said polygraph tests are inadmissible in Florida courts. But Ross pointed to a new federal court decision admitting test results under some circumstances. He offered to permit Joyce to take an additional polygraph by a state examiner immediately, but DeGregory promptly refused. The judge, judge Smith denied Attorney Ross's request to admit the test results and Joyce did not testify.

Speaker 1 16:46

Although Ross stood firmly behind his decision not to put her on the stand, others disagreed. They felt Joyce needed to be humanized for the jury. She had a hard look which even Ross recognized, which even Russ recognized. He knew she was afraid and the only way she could cope with the ordeal facing her was to put up a wall around her. He could only hope that the jury would see it that way.

Speaker 1 17:17

Closing arguments were scheduled for November 14. When the jurors arrived in court that day, many brought homemade snacks, cakes, cookies, coffee cakes, in anticipation of long hours of deliberation. All brought their overnight bags. They knew they would be sequestered until they reached a verdict. The state of Florida presented its closing argument first.

Speaker 1 17:45

Prosecutor DeGregory strode to the podium and addressed the court in a formal manner. He said, may it please the court counsel, members of the jury, good morning. And he gestured toward the guilted motto above Judge Smith's head we who labor here seek only truth, it has been said. He told the jurors that a jury trial is the ultimate search for truth and you have become searchers. You have a compass to aid your search. You had it before you came here your common sense. Use your common sense he urged the jury. You built it compasses to test the two opposing theories.

Speaker 1 18:32

In this case. Either Stan Cohen was murdered by two shadowy figures or he was murdered by Joyce LeMay Cohen, his wife, to inherit his money. To believe Joyce Cohen's story about the two shadowy figures, degregory continued you must accept an unbroken string of coincidences and dumb luck that defy logic. Two mysterious strangers arrive. The alarm system happens to be turned off. They break in without alerting Joyce Cohen or her double man pincher. They run upstairs to Stan's bedroom, find his loaded gun on the nightstand. They kill him with his own gun and then they run out of the house before Mrs Cohen can get a good look at them. The dog didn't even chase them out the door. How lucky can you get?

Speaker 1 19:29

Before you consider the state's evidence in this case set your built in compasses on the defendant's own story, her sworn statement to the police. She told them that she heard a noise in the yard that night and ran upstairs to get her husband. Stan took a loaded gun and the two of them looked around the yard, then returned to their bedroom where he left the loaded gun on the nightstand. Later Joyce went downstairs alone, turned off the alarm system, locked up the dog with her in her son's room. Then, while she was on the phone with a person in Colorado, she heard a noise. She hung up the phone and followed the dog into the dark kitchen. She didn't go upstairs to her husband with a loaded gun, she didn't call police or even stay on the telephone line. What does she do? This woman who sought her husband when danger was outside in the yard now follows the dog into apparent danger. So far, in your search for truth, your finding only lies Using a prepared chart.

Speaker 1 20:40

Degregory reviewed the phone calls to Ann from the Coyham house on the morning of March 7, beginning with the first call from Steamboat Springs at 5.15 am. Joyce said the call was from Kimberly Carroll and he reminded the jury. But Kimberly Carroll told the police she had handed the phone to Kathy Dickett. A follow-up call from Colorado at 5.20 found Joyce hysterical, screaming that Stan had been shot. According to Joyce, she must have found her husband's bloody murder body about 5.19 am, but records show she didn't trip the alarm that called the 911 emergency operator until 5.25 am, more than five full minutes later, while Stan lay bleeding. And this is the prosecutor talking now within reach of the panic button which she wanted installed and she could activate with one push. Would an innocent woman wait five minutes to sound the alarm, to call 911? What does your common sense tell you? Do you know how long five minutes is? And with that Dick Gregory turned into his heel and strolled back to the council table. He sat down and folded his arm across his chest, staring straight ahead.

Speaker 1 22:06

There was dead silence in the courtroom. All the jurors intently watched the prosecutor, except one, dr Catherine Poole, who stared straight at Joyce Cohen. As he sat beside Dick Gregory, castronakis fought his own frustration. He doubted that Joyce had killed her husband. She had hired someone else to do that and had planned the alibi phone calls. His scenario fit neatly into the evidence that the murder had occurred at 2 to 3 am. It also jibed with Joyce's insistence in her sworn statement that the calls had come at 3 o'clock. She had even invited Detective Spear to check the time with Kimberly Carroll and the phone records. But Kastronakis had reluctantly agreed with DeGregory that proof of that scenario was conjectural at best and raising such conjectures with the jury might be confusing or worse, damaging to their credibility.

Speaker 1 23:15

Castronakis gazed at Joyce sitting at the defense table and wondered again. What had she been doing for two or three hours while she waited desperately for the phone to ring? He was pretty sure she wasn't staging the break-in Neighbor, jerry Mandina, had heard that around 5 am and she probably wasn't upstairs with the body. He guessed she had saved that part for last and then panicked when she discovered the gun where Caracciolo had apparently dropped it. So what was she doing while her husband lay upstairs murdered in his bed? Prosecutor Castranakis was haunted by the scenes he imagined.

Speaker 1 23:58

After the interminable silence, prosecutor DeGregory rose and returned to the podium and said that's how long five minutes is In the courtroom. It had seemed like an hour. He said that's how long she waited to call 911. What was she doing Now? It's time to consider the physical evidence. It will convince you that she used that time to wipe down the gun that had been used by her hired assassin, anthony Caracciolo, to kill Stanley Cohen.

Speaker 1 24:40

Sometimes shouting, sometimes whispering, so that jurors had to lean forward to hear his words, degregory summarized the physical evidence against Joyce Cohen the gunshot residue on her hands and on the blue and white tissue hidden in her private bathroom. The two tiny bits of white tissue on the murder weapon found in the Cohen's front yard. Gopinath Rao testified that he found similar gunshot residue particles on Joyce's hands and the soiled tissue. His results were consistent with her having handled a recently fired weapon or having touched a gunshot wound. Rao was limited to his tests. Prosecutor DeGregory reminded the jury, but you will know that there were tiny pieces of white tissue on the murder weapon. That tells you conclusively how the gunshot residue got on the tissue. That blue and white tissue with mucus from a person with Joyce's blood type was hidden beneath an empty tissue box in Joyce's bathroom wastebasket. The only tissues adjacent to the bedroom were blue.

Speaker 1 25:58

Perhaps the, gregory suggested sarcastically a mysterious stranger had found Joyce's used tissue and wiped down the gun and then took it to her bathroom to hide in a wastebasket. No, the only reasonable explanation, degregory continued, was that Joyce used that tissue to wipe down the gun. Then she hid the tissue in her wastebasket and threw the gun off the terrace outside. It's really very simple. If Joyce Cohen wiped down the murder weapon, she's guilty and you know it. It was Kastronasky's shortcut through the myriad conflicted testimonies, the single issue on which Ross had produced no witness. But would the jury focus on it when she was giving her sworn statement to the police.

Defense Attorney Argues for Innocence

Speaker 1 26:53

Dick Gregory continued the wheels in her mind were turning. What if she didn't get all her prints off the gun? And the cops found it? So she invented a story. She told them. She picked up the gun earlier that night and said Stan, why are you leaving this here? That was too convenient. And what about Joyce's hysteria when the cops arrived? Phony Well, sir Lestat Cohen had been dead since 3 am.

Speaker 1 27:21

Drie Gregory said you can rely on Jerry Mandina and Bernie. A House, a House had no favorites to play. There was nothing uncertain about his testimony. He was positive. He heard gunshots at 3 am. Because of his experience. He identified the shots fired as from a .38 caliber revolver. And that's what we have here a .38 caliber revolver. And that's what we have here a .38 caliber revolver. And Jerry Mandina, directly across the street, from 3.30 till 5.30, heard no shots,

Speaker 1 27:52

just glass breaking. Shortly after 5 am, the only living person at the Cohen house at 5 am was the defendant herself. And the defendant is the person who has the most to gain from Stan's death. Just coincidence. Degregory asked Do you believe the defendant is the victim of unlucky coincidence? He shook his head. You don't have to find that Joyce pulled the trigger. You don't have to find that Joyce pulled the trigger. Degregory reminded the jury. If she intended for it to happen and participated, she is as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger. This was a planned killing. Let your verdict

Speaker 1 28:40

speak the truth. Then it was Alan Ross's turn, her defense attorney and, as rare you know, the jurors turned to him expectantly and he said when I was getting dressed to come to court today, I wonder what could I say? What could one person say in defense of this person? And he gestured toward Joyce. He said she's on trial for her life against the forces of the state, the police, these well-trained prosecutors. And I thought for the first time how much doctors deserve our respect. And he glanced at juror Dr Catherine Poole, because they undertake responsibility for another person's life, and that's the responsibility I have undertaken here. What's Mrs Cohen's defense? She didn't do it, she's not guilty. It's as simple as that. A few weeks ago I asked you to look across her, at her and say Mrs Cohen, I absolutely presume you're innocent. That was your promise, your oath. Now you have her life

Speaker 1 30:03

in your hands. The issue is whether the state has proved the defendant's guilt beyond every reasonable doubt. That means where the hand fits the glove. Is the state's case like that? No, no. Warming to his task, then defense attorney Ross thundered that he had a list of 173 reasonable doubts about the evidence against his clients, any one of which required the jury to find her not

Speaker 1 30:36

guilty. He said. If Joyce Cohen had wanted her husband killed, did it make it any sense to have it done while she was in the house? What? Would she really have been stupid enough to wipe down the murder gun, throw it into her own front yard and then hide the tissue in her own wastebasket? Wouldn't she at least have flushed the tissue down the toilet? Ross's explanation for the tissue was simple and innocent. He described for the jury how Joyce got gunshot residue on her hands by touching her husband's wounded head. When she found him unconscious, and then sobbing, she blew her nose, wiped her soil hands on the tissue, thereby transferring some gunpowder residue from her hands to the tissue. The state's own witness, gobinath Rao, had testified that it could have happened that way. Then Joyce simply threw the tissue into the wastebasket out of habit. Why was she in her bathroom? She went there because it had the only window from which she could watch for the police pulling into her driveway on Southwest 17th Avenue. Of course this was an argument, not evidence, but Ross was, at this time, most persuasive. Would the jury discern the difference or care? So it was the intruders who shot Stan Cohen at this time most persuasive, would the jury discern the difference or care? So it was the intruders who shot Stan Cohen, who wiped off the murder gun with white toilet tissue on the way out the front door. And he continues saying that tissue was found on the front steps of the Cohen home on the morning of March 7. It was clearly visible in ID technician Sylvia Roman's photographs of the Cohen home on the morning of March 7, it was clearly visible in ID technician Sylvia Roman's photographs of the crime scene, but it vanished before it

Speaker 1 32:29

could be examined. Another instance of inept investigation leading to wrong conclusions about the crime. As for the state's star witness, frank Zuccarello, he was a garden variety liar primed by the cops. He knew whatever they wanted him to know. He bought his way out of jail with false testimony. It's as obvious as the nose on his face, despite Socorro's testimony. Then Anthony Caracciolo and Joyce Cohen had exchanged several phone calls. The detectives couldn't find any record of them For one simple reason they never happened, and neither did any of the other events that Zuccarello told them about it in such detail, about it in such detail? How about Lynn Barkley? If they were so sure Frank Zuccarello was telling the truth, why wasn't Barkley charged? He was never arrested or charged for one reason Zuccarello is a liar. Frank Zuccarello lied to you and every time Zuccarello lies. Frank Zuccarello lied to you and every time Zuccarello lies.

Wait for Verdict Sends Tense Atmosphere

Speaker 1 33:46

That's reasonable doubt. And as for the dramatic missing five minutes, there was no missing five minutes. Defense attorney Ross declared it was just the state's attorney's guess. And with that five minutes he puts Joyce Cohen in the electric chair. It was nothing more than a slight variation in the time reported by the Southern Bell telephone records, by the Dictacraft alarm system and by the 911 emergency records or the emergency operator records. And he says my watch says 112. The clock above the door says 109. If each of you looks at your watch you would have various times. But the jurors, interesting enough, did not look at their watches. They gazed intently at Ross and then he continued. He said what about Bernie A House? He couldn't have heard any shots because he was so far away from the Cohen's house. He was practically in another city, yet he claimed he heard a 38. If he had asked him a few more questions he would have told us the serial number, and Ahos heard those sounds 45 minutes after the time. Zuccarello gave for the shooting. The glove doesn't fit. It got four fingers, not five, and

Speaker 1 35:22

that's reasonable doubt. The next area will convince you to a certainty the time of Stan Cohen's death. It's not the defendant's responsibility to prove to you that Stan died at 5.15 am. It's the state's burden to prove that he died between 2.15 and 2.18 am. Do you have a doubt? How about the paramedics who testified that Stan's body was still warm? There was no lividity, no rigor mortis, and Dr Bowden had qualified. How qualified must you be to chair a committee investigating the death of Martin Luther King Jr and John F Kennedy? But the best witness was Dr Whetley who for more than three years consistently agreed with Joyce Cohen's statement about the time of Stan's death, until he changed his mind

Speaker 1 36:17

during the trial. Every inconsistency in the evidence, every gap, every guess the prosecutors made about what might have happened, each one is a reasonable doubt. If you waver or vacillate, stop right there. There's reasonable doubts. I'll outline 175 reasonable doubts. You need to have but one, and then your verdict has to be not guilty. This is the most important decision you will ever be asked to make. The life of this woman is in your hands, and that's not an exaggeration. Only one verdict, one that you should be proud of, the only verdict an innocent woman deserves. Not guilty, papa Amuel or Amsel, I should say. Papa Amuel or Amsel, I should say watched his partner return to his seat at a council table and after that great closing he said I wanted to be shocked as a guilty verdict. As a guilty verdict, not that Joyce Cohen is going to be considered or convicted of

Speaker 1 37:47

killing her husband. So now the case went to the jury late in the afternoon on November 14. Still too close to call. After a few hours deliberation in the tiny jury room behind the courtroom, the jurors were escorted to the aging Holiday Inn down the street from the Metropolitan Justice Building where they would reside until Joy Cohen's fate was decided. To shield them from news about the case, they were given rooms with no televisions

Speaker 1 38:22

and no phones. When a jury is out, a peculiar atmosphere envelops a trial's participants and spectators. There is anticipation mixed with dread, hope mixed with despair. But mostly there is just waiting. But mostly there is just waiting. The lawyers and their clients and family and friends roam the corridors, unable to leave until the jury returns. A strange sort of bonding takes place. They chatter nervously, they joke, they try to read, make phone calls, but mostly

Speaker 1 38:58

they just wait. The jury was led back into the jury room at 9 am the following day, wednesday november 15th, to continue deliberations. A note was delivered to the judge. The news flew down the hall. The lawyers, the defendant and spectators hurriedly assemble in the courtroom to hear judge Smith read the note aloud. The jury wanted to hear criminalist Gunpinath Rao's testimony about the gunshot residue. Again, judge Smith granted the request. It was considered a favorable sign for the prosecution. The jury, it seemed, was following Castranacki's shortcut through the maze of conflicted testimony to a single issue. If they believed Joyce Cohen had handled the recently fired murder weapon, she had

Speaker 1 39:53

to be guilty. The jury returned to the jury box. Rell's lengthy technical testimony was read aloud by the court reporter, who never missed a word of the difficult transcript. When the reporter finished, the jury fell back into the Tony-cramped jury room and in public Alan Ross seemed unconcerned. He even laughed that he should have worn his favorite pin on his lapel during closing arguments, number two meaning two words, not guilty. But privately he feared the worst for his client. It doesn't look good, he told Joyce with a frown. It doesn't look good, he told Joyce with a frown, without a word to his partner

Speaker 1 40:42

or their client. Bob Ansel began work in earnest on the penalty case of the case. A rumor flashed through the courthouse. At John Stone's Crab Restaurant on the beach, someone claimed to have sat at lunch table next to Ross's law partner and secretaries from his office. They were discussing plans for the victory party in the Cohen case. The champagne, it was said, was already on ice. Gary Cohen and Jerry Huffman, who had taken six-week leaves of absence from their jobs to attend every day of the trial, heard the rumor. They steeled themselves against the worst nightmare that the stepmother would walk out of the courtroom, a free woman, in the silence

Speaker 1 41:32

of her chambers. Judge Frederica Smith still thought the verdict could go either way. There were so many factual issues, so much conflicted testimony and evidence. Was there reasonable doubt or was there anything else the judge couldn't predict. So Kevin DeGregory, the prosecutor, he just looked nervously that if he lost his case at least he would be in good company with Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerard Cogan. As a young prosecutor in Dade County in 1965, cogan had lost his case against accused husband killer Candence Mosler and her nephew. His case

Speaker 1 42:24

fascinated Stan Cohen. Passing the time in his office, de Gregory mentioned to colleagues that his wife had just learned that she was pregnant with their couple's fourth child. Counting backwards, some calculated that the child must have been conceived literally on the eve of the Cohen trial. And there were more rumors. The wife of a prominent Miami attorney commented that if Joyce Cohen was acquitted she would line up luncheon speaking engagements for Joyce all over town. Luncheon-speaking engagements for Joyce. All over town there were plenty of women who would want to know how she got away with killing her husband and would pay the price of the expensive lunch

Speaker 1 43:10

to find out. The next morning, november 16, they returned to continue deliberating and then suddenly it was over About 9.30 that morning. After a total of eight hours of deliberation, the jury foreperson advised Judge Smith, bailiff, that they had a verdict. The news swept down the fourth floor corridor like a strong gust of wind as Gregory rushed to the courtroom and he thought of Kastranakis. He had stayed home that morning with a high fever. Judge Smith entered the packed courtroom and silenced the spectators and she gave a stern warning no matter what the jury's verdict was, it was to be respected by all those present. She would not tolerate any emotional outbursts of any kind. She would not tolerate any emotional outbursts of any kind and having made that clear, she sent the bailiff to bring

Speaker 1 44:09

the jury in. The jurors filed into the courtroom. The jury foreperson, dr Catherine Poole, handed the verdict to the judge. Well, at least you know I called that right and that was what was going through Attorney Ross's mind. At least I called that right. He had predicted that Dr Poole would be selected the fourth person. Judge Smith glanced at the verdict form. Ross was certain he could read her fleeting expression. Surprise, without comment, the judge passed the verdict to her clerk

Speaker 1 44:51

to read aloud. Joyce Cohen and her attorneys rose and faced the jury and it began, and they said as to the first count murder in the first degree, guilty. Alan Ross exhaled sharply and his shoulders slumped, but Joyce continued to stare at the jury. She was dry-eyed, expressionless. And then the foreman continued and said sorry, the clerk, and said, as the second count conspiracy to commit murder, guilty. As to the third count display of a firearm and the commission of a

Speaker 1 45:38

felony guilty arm. In the commission of a felony guilty, the courtroom surged with shock, anguish and jubilation and there was a loud low moan that escaped from Jerry Helfman. She sobbed with relief as her husband, steve, held her and he said it's all over. Now, it's really all over. Tears were going down Gary Cohen's cheeks as he clutched his nine-month-old son to his chest. Across the courtroom. Joyce Cohen's friends sat silently stunned. Sad Smith burst into tears. Judge Smith solemnly thanked the jury for its long service in the case, solemnly thanked the jury for its long service in the case. Then she dismissed them with instructions to return on November 20th for the penalty phase

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of the trial. When the jury was gone, judge Smith called a defendant to the bench for adjudication. The form of pronouncement that made Joyce call him a murderess in the eyes of the law. Joyce was wooden, nearly immobile, barely able to walk the short distance to the bench. Standing beside her, ross and Amsel towered over her. She suddenly seemed vulnerable, childlike. She didn't even glance at her lawyers. Neither one spoke to her. No one had noticed the uniform corrections officer, ben Moreno, waiting quietly near the back door of the courtroom. Now Officer Moreno came to meet Joyce at the bench. Methodically, he inked her fingers and rolled them onto fingerprint cards. As Judge Smith spoke she said pursuant to the jury's verdict I educate you guilty. As she listened, joyce absently wiped her dirty fingers on a tissue that the officer handed her. Then it was over. Officer Moreno led Joyce out the back door for the first time into the small holding cell. She never looked back, but once inside the tiny cell she collapsed. Moreno held the sobbing woman in his arms and rocked her like a baby Outside television cameras and reporters waited down the hall near the

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escalators and elevators. In the zone where they were continuing to work, lights flashed on. Reporters scrambled for interviews. Jerry Helfman walked by now smiling but still refusing to break her public silence about the case. But Gary Cohn spoke briefly and said nobody thought this case was a winner. Everybody always believed she was guilty, but no one thought she would be convicted. This was not a neat, tidy case. Every radio and television station in Miami broke into the programming with the news

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of the verdict. John Kasternakis, home with the flu that morning, heard the verdict on the radio before Dick Gregory could even get upstairs in his office to call him Sick as he was. Castronakis couldn't stay in bed. He dressed hurriedly and rushed to work. Although detectives John Spear thought this was the most important case of his 17-year career, he took no real pleasure in the conviction. He commented somberly that he was sorry for everyone, even Mrs Cohen. He says all things equal out. I'm a firm believer in what goes

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around comes around. Alan Ross was devastated by the verdict. It showed in his sagging shoulders and on his face, which suddenly looked haggard. He had lost 35 pounds during the grueling trial and his well-tailored suit hung in loose folds. On the last day, while spectators searched around the prosecutors and Gary and Jerry with congratulations, he stayed behind in the courtroom struggling to maintain his composure and he mumbled what do I say? What do

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I say now? Attorney Ross managed to maintain his professional demeanor for the television cameras waiting in the corridor, but his comments to the press rambled. He said as a criminal defense lawyer you always know if your client did it or not. I have always known. All these years, through all these cases, I have always known I'm in the best position to know. But even I this time still really don't know if she did it. So it makes it awfully tough to say there was no reasonable doubt. It wasn't exactly what he meant to say. What Ross wanted to emphasize was his disbelief that the jury had not found even one reasonable doubt, but it sounded more like a lawyer whose faith in his client's

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innocence was faltering. When Kostronakis heard Ross's remarks he thought we did it. We put some reasonable doubt about her innocence in Ross's mind. Just like I said, on the sixth floor of the Metropolitan Justice Building so impromptu victory party was assembling. Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno stopped by to congratulate her prosecutors and hear their excited comments. Someone sent out for champagne In a large office Gary and Carol Cohen, jerry and Steve Helfman. Artie Cohen and his wife Mary sat on sofas and chairs and leaned against bookcases, giddy with relief, laughing at the prosecutor's jokes and war stories about the Cohen case. Castronakis imitated Ed Smith on the witness stand, tears rolling down his face. Everyone howled with laughter. Castronakis' father, a Miami real estate attorney, came by to offer congratulations on the verdict. He also had some advice for his son. It was time to stop celebrating and start preparing for the next phase of the case, the hearing on the penalty to be imposed against Joyce Cohen Life in prison or death in

Uncovering Joyce LeMay Cohen's Past

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Florida's electric chair. Oh Sparky, russ and Amsel made the long, sad trip downstairs to visit their client in her cell. They found Joyce alone in a locked room, tucked into a fetal position in a corner, and she was howling. There was no other word for it. Amsa was shaken. He said I have never heard a human being make those sounds. For Ross it was the worst professional experience of his life. She trusted me, he thought as he gazed down at her. She gave her life over to me. Before it is, don't damage it. Ross worried that Joyce might even try to kill herself. He was overwhelmed by her tragedy and by his own sense of failure. In his mind he had already gone over every decision, every judgment he had made in this case, back to the first day, march 7, 1986, when he told Joyce Cohen not to consent to a search of the house. Endless second-guessing, chastising, but he always came back to the same point he had done his very best for his client and he would make the very same decisions again. Finally, ross drove back to his office when he was alone, and he sat down at his

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desk and cried. Ansel didn't have the luxury of surrendering to his emotions. His task lay ahead the penalty case. Surrendering to his emotions, his task lay ahead the penalty case. Joyce Cohen's life was now truly in his hands. It would be his first capital penalty hearing and he had three short days to prepare. He didn't really even

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know his client. I'm so worried that, despite the countless hours he had spent with her traveling, working and Leslie discussing her case, joyce remained an enigma. She was very, very emotionally close to people. Amthor thought she never opened up. Even when he had tried to discuss her past life with her, she refused and she would reply look, I'm innocent, absolutely innocent. There would never be a penalty phase, she was certain. So there was no need to discuss her life. Ansel could see why some people thought she was cold. It was just the way she looked. But he had to have her help. Now her life literally

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depending on it. Ansel had to probe his client's past for mitigating factors to invoke the jury's sympathy for the penalty phase of the trial. Who was Joyce LeMay Cohen? Where had she come from? Made Cohen? Where had she come from, this beautiful young woman who had so mischievously appeared in Stan Cohen's life? He had loved her, had given her everything she wanted houses, clothes, jewelry he had given her a life. What could possibly explain why she had killed him and destroyed herself? Thank you for listening to the Murder Book. Have a great week.