Karina Sue Cooper appears during her first-degree murder trial at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday, July 10, 2025. She was declared guilty by a jury of her peers on Friday, July 11. PHOTO BY JIM SLOSIAREK/THE GAZETTE

CEDAR RAPIDS – Karina Sue Cooper has been declared guilty of murder in the first degree.

Right at 5 p.m. on Friday and following just over three hours of deliberation by the jury plus six days of testimony which began on Wednesday, July 2 – breaking for the Independence Day holiday – Cooper, 48, was found guilty of the single charge of first degree murder for shooting her husband Ryan Cooper back on June 18, 2021, at their rural Traer home.

The trial took place at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids, after being moved from Tama County, with Iowa Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Lars Anderson presiding.

Sentencing is set to take place at a later date in Cedar Rapids.

Murder in the first degree is considered a class A felony in Iowa and carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After the jury was dismissed and brief remarks were given by the judge, Karina Cooper was taken away in handcuffs from the courtroom at 5:03 p.m. Her $1 million bail was immediately revoked.

This is a breaking story.