Joshua Touchton, left, and Beatriz Herrera (Orange County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida woman who was apparently texting with her incarcerated husband about coaching a witness in his murder case has been accused of conspiracy and is now behind bars herself.
Beatriz Herrera, 32, is married to convicted killer Joshua Touchton, 38, who was found guilty of murder in 2013 and is currently appealing his conviction. According to court documents, both Touchton and Herrera are now also charged with conspiracy to tamper with a witness after police said Herrera was allegedly caught smuggling a cellphone to her husband in prison. Text messages and voice notes found on her phone also allegedly revealed a plot to coach a witness in Touchton’s murder case.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
In an arrest affidavit filed against Touchton on April 3, police said that they were tipped off by an assistant state attorney via email who said that he had been investigating Herrera after she allegedly smuggled cigarettes and cellphones to her husband in prison.
A search warrant was issued for Herrera’s phone, which allegedly contained “a sound clip that Touchton made for Herrera trying to get her to coach someone on how to testify for his upcoming evidentiary hearing.”
The detective wrote in the affidavit that a witness in the original trial was reportedly set to recant his story, giving the appeal new momentum. However, according to the affidavit, the same witness was allegedly coached by Touchton and Herrera ahead of his testimony. Police wrote that a male voice allegedly explained “what needs to be said to be said by [the witness] and how he needs to say specific things, including Joshua did not kill Mike, but [redacted] did.”
Detectives were able to confirm that the male voice was Touchton and that he was texting Herrera.
