A Georgia woman has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband, following a deadly shooting that occurred after a heated argument about their open marriage.
Cheryl Coe Convicted of Murder and Aggravated Assault
Cheryl Coe, 55, was found guilty of murder and aggravated assault in the death of her 48-year-old husband, Luther “Luke” Coe III, on June 23, 2021.
The shooting occurred in their home on Tommy Lee Cook Road in Newnan, Georgia, after a disagreement about her seeing other men. Coe was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Fatal Shooting
The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call placed by Cheryl Coe, who claimed that she had shot her husband after mistaking him for an intruder. According to her statement, she had been drinking four to five cans of Angry Orchard Hard Cider on the porch earlier in the evening.
She said that she went to bed around 7:15 p.m., but about 10 minutes later, her bedroom door swung open, prompting her to open fire in self-defense.
“I was just trying to protect myself,” Coe told investigators.
However, the story quickly fell apart. Investigators found that her husband had suffered a contact bullet wound, indicating the gun was pressed against his body when it was fired, not shot from a distance as Coe initially claimed.
The Self-Defense Claim
Coe later changed her story, claiming that her husband had stormed into the room and tried to drag her out of bed. She said that when he left the room, she grabbed a gun from her nightstand and fired one warning shot, which made her husband angry.
Coe claimed she wasn’t trying to hit him but instead hoped the warning shot would scare him off.
But she did hit him, and after helping paramedics with her husband, Luther Coe later died from his injuries in the hospital.
Tensions in the Marriage
As investigators dug deeper into the case, they uncovered underlying issues in the Coes’ open marriage. Text messages between the couple in the days leading up to the shooting revealed fights about their arrangement.
Cheryl Coe had asked for permission to see another man, but her husband expressed discomfort, especially when she joked about seeing a second man that same day.
The couple’s tensions were clear. Cheryl Coe even suggested ending the open marriage, but Luther Coe wanted to continue with more defined boundaries. Matters became worse when he discovered that his wife had been discussing their relationship problems with a friend.
The Trial and Final Verdict
During her trial, Coe maintained her self-defense claim, but prosecutors highlighted inconsistencies in her story. They pointed out that she had brought a gun to a verbal argument and that the shooting was not an accident as she had originally claimed.
Prosecutor Laura Lukert emphasized the gravity of the situation, saying, “She brought a gun to a verbal spat.”
Luther Coe, a U.S. Army veteran who owned a demolition and road grading company, was mourned by his family and friends after his death.
Legal Outcome
Despite her claims of self-defense, Cheryl Coe was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of her husband.
