Rice’s attorney Dierra Deagle presented the motion to acquit Rice of Knutson’s murder, saying the state failed to establish that Rice was at the apartment when Knutson was murdered.

“It’s on the state to present evidence to allow this case to be given to the jury. They must present facts that a reasonable juror would be able to conclude guilt. We don’t believe that’s been established here,” Deagle said. “Here there’s been zero evidence that establish Ms. Rice was in town, let alone the specific scene at the time when the murder occurred.”

Deagle cited the facts that no DNA, fingerprints or eye witnesses put Rice at the scene, and any evidence that Rice possessed the murder weapon is circumstantial. Deagle stated no testimony had been given to substantiate ill will, or that Rice willfully caused Knutson’s death. Deagle requested Hagar to acquit Rice or move to a direct verdict.

Deputy Ward County State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen responded by citing the testimony that the entry into the apartment by the perpetrator was determined to be through the front door, which required a key. Sorgen stated the knife used to stab Knutson was used to cut the window screen, as her blood was found in the cuts in the screen after she was stabbed, invalidating theories that the perpetrator entered through the window.

Anita Knutson

“We’ve heard testimony that the defendant has provided different accounts of where she was, a different timeline of where she was. We’ve heard that travel to Minot from the farm where she was staying was only about 40 minutes. There’s a large gap in her version of events of where she was that night. We’ve been presented with an awful lot of cross examination of other potential persons,” Sorgen said. “We’ve heard testimony from officers of the Minot PD as to why they ruled those individuals out, but that Ms. Rice could not be ruled out as a suspect in regards to all of this, and that she was the only person with the motive, means and opportunity the entire time. Everyone else has lacked that.”

Sorgen said Rice was aware of “hold back information,” that was not made available to anyone outside of the investigation, including a bowl of water in a sink which was removed before Rice was brought to the scene.

“We heard testimony that Anita’s body had been removed from the scene before Nichole was allowed into the apartment. She would not have known the position of the body. She would not have known how it was clad,” Sorgen said. “The window screen was not present on the window. The investigations and transcripts establish that she would not have known it was cut. She knew an awful lot of things.”

Sorgen said the most telling aspects of the case against acquittal were the alleged confessions Rice made to William May and Kristina Holler. Hagar ultimately ruled against the motion to acquit, and asked the defense to proceed with its first witness.

First defense witness

The defense called its first witness Monday afternoon, former FBI agent Doug Kouns. Kouns is also the CEO of Veracity IIR, and testified he has been called as an expert witness in multiple trials.

Kouns said he was brought onto the case in June 2023, and since then reviewed the case file, which included thousands of documents, and numerous audio records and photos. Kouns said he prepared a report for the case after reviewing the file and the probable cause affidavit. Kouns said the file wasn’t very organized, and files were often unlabeled and contained seemingly unrelated information.

Kouns said he also reviewed the “Cold Justice” documentary and their contributions to the investigation, but that he believed they left out a viable person of interest in Devin Hall. The State’s case closed with testimony from Minot Police Department Sgt. Carmen Asham, who testified the investigation determined that Hall was not in Minot at the time of Knutson’s murder.

Kouns also disputed the State’s conclusion that the only way a perpetrator accessed the apartment was through the front door with a key.

“I don’t think they had to have a key because we don’t know for sure that the door was locked when whoever got there came in. They could have encountered an unlocked door, locked it behind them, or exited through the window. They could have entered through the window and back out of the window despite this reenactment thing. It can be done. Locks can be picked,” Kouns said.

Rice’s attorney William Sand asked Kouns about the alleged inconsistencies in her statements regarding her activities and whereabouts the night of the murder, but Kouns argued he found them to be small details that didn’t place Rice back in Minot.

Kouns commented on the interviews of Rice’s aunt Brenda Glinz, who provided a statement to investigators that Rice told her she went back to her apartment the night of June 2 to get clothes. Kouns stated he believed Rice actually grabbed the clothes from the apartment on Friday before she left for the weekend.

Regarding the alleged drunken confessions in 2008, Kouns said he didn’t think it didn’t make sense there weren’t follow up conversations to the statement, and he didn’t find any reference to the statements in police materials prior to 2022. Sand asked Kouns how much weight he gave to the alleged statements, and Kouns replied saying, “not that much, but I don’t discount them completely.”

“There’s a lack of context prior to and after the statements, which in and of itself doesn’t make sense to me. This is a person that has been through multiple law enforcement interrogations over this matter and held her ground firmly,” Kouns said. “It does not make sense that at a party of people that she doesn’t seem to know that well that she is actually going to confess. I don’t know the tone of the comment. It could have been sarcastic when it was made.”

Kouns also testified regarding research into possible person of interest Tyler Schmaltz, who reportedly had gone to prom with Knutson, and lived in another apartment nearby to the roommates. Kouns testified that Schmaltz was described as having an “obsession” with Knutson.

Sand’s questioning also veered into the investigators on the “Cold Justice” team, particularly Kelly Siegler, who faced a federal court ruling that overturned the conviction and death sentence of a death-row prisoner in Texas after it was found she engaged in extensive misconduct by hiding evidence.

Kouns testified that Siegler participated in several interviews in 2022 where she provided questions to the subjects along with Sgt. Carmen Asham.

Kouns was still testifying when the jury was released for the day shortly before 5 p.m. Assistant Ward County State’s Attorney Christopher Nelson requested that Hagar require Kouns to provide the data and information from his investigation prior to cross examination. Sand argued that the defense was in compliance with court rules, and it was too early for the state to request the information.

Hagar reviewed the Century Code, and determined Nelson was premature, but the information should be disclosed to be requested by the state upon cross-examination.

Testimony will resume today at 8:30 a.m. in Grand Forks.