A Tama County woman has been convicted of killing her husband in a shooting prosecutors said she planned with a man she had an affair with.
A jury on Thursday, July 11, found Karina Cooper guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Ryan Cooper, who was shot to death in 2021 in his Traer home.
Karina Cooper’s alleged paramour, Huston Danker, also is charged with first-degree murder and is set to be tried in August.
During her trial, KGAN-TV reported, Cooper admitted to her affair but said she had felt guilty and broken it off She pointed the finger at Danker, who she said had threatened her and her family. But prosecutors showed jurors social media messages between Cooper and Danker saying they loved each other, and Cooper saying repeatedly she wanted her husband dead.
In one message, she reportedly wrote she “could shoot (Ryan Cooper) in the face,” investigators said. Her husband died of two bullet wounds to his face.
Prosecutors told jurors it didn’t matter whether Danker or Karina Cooper fired the gun because they had planned the killing together and both were culpable for it. Cooper’s attorneys argued the Snapchat messages jurors saw did not show any crime, and there was no evidence presented showing she was the killer.
The jury took about four hours to return its verdict. Cooper faces a mandatory life term in prison at her yet-to-be-scheduled sentencing.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tama County woman convicted of planning husband’s 2021 murder with her lover
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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