Diana Cojocari Released From Jail After Entering Guilty Plea, With Husbands Trial Potentially Delayed

Emma Mondo,

Update (5/21)

Diana Cojocari was released from jail today, as she has served the max amount of time she could for the charge.

Original Story (5/20)

CHARLOTTE – The mother of Madalina Cojocari pleaded guilty on Monday for failing to report her daughter missing. Diana Cojocari has been in jail since December of 2022, after her daughter, Madalina, had been missing since November of that year.

Cornelius police Major Jennifer Thompson has worked on this case since the beginning and was in the court room on Monday.

“It sounded from the judge that she served her max sentence, so now its just waiting for her to get out,” she said.

Cojocari originally pleaded not guilty to the class A felony. In court Monday, she changed her plea to guilty, even after the judge told her she could be deported back to Moldova.

Immigration lawyer Omar Bashi spoke with WCCB’d Emma Mondo about this possibility.

“We have to look specifically at what she was charged with and convicted under,” he said. “Then we can make the determination of whether it was an aggravated felony, or a crime of moral turpitude.”

According to the University of North Carolina school of law, failing to report a missing child does not fall under the category of deportability, but making a false report to law enforcement does.

With Cojocari’s hearing finished, the state is now preparing for the jury trial of her husband, Christopher Palmiter, after he kept his not guilty plea. He was arrested the same day as Diana for the same charge. His trial was originally set for Monday, but will now start Tuesday afternoon.

Palmiter’s legal team is now trying to delay the start even more. WCCB obtained a motion to continue, filed by the defense. It argues that Palmiter’s trial should be pushed back again in light of new evidence. His lawyers say the state kept evidence from them, including phone, computer, car, and journal records.

Other new information in the motion shared that Diana allegedly made a plan with Palmiter to take her and Madalina to a safe place, that she allegedly believed she was in danger from a third party, not Palmiter, and she was wiring large sums of money out of the country via western union.

Palmiter’s attorneys also want to review an interview with Diana Cojocari’s cousin. Major Thompson tells Mondo that she and her team are ready to take the stand no matter when the trial starts.

“Our goal is still to find Madalina, we still don’t have her, that’s what we are focused on still from here.”