On August 18, 2025, after a weeklong trial in Coweta County Superior Court Case Number 2022-R-094, Cheryl Howell Coe, 55, of Newnan, was found guilty of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, and Aggravated Assault for killing her husband, Luther “Luke” Lee Coe, III. Superior Court Judge Travis Sakrison sentenced Coe to Life without the possibility of parole.
Senior ADAs Laura Lukert and Nathan Stewart prosecuted the case and the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office
(CCSO), led by Investigator Jason Brooks, investigated the case.
The Defendant was arrested on June 24, 2021, the day after the victim’s murder on June 23, 2021, and was
indicted on February 22, 2022. The case first proceeded to trial on February 24, 2025, before ending in a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The case proceeded to trial again on August 11, 2025, and the jury reached a unanimous verdict of guilty on all counts. The evidence presented at trial revealed the following:
When the Defendant came home from work on June 23, 2021, her husband, the victim, was working in their
detached garage and her husband’s son was leaving the house. At 7:26pm, the Defendant called 911, stating that her “husband has been shot” and her “gun went off by itself.” Coweta County Sheriff’s deputies and Coweta County EMS arrived within minutes, but Luke Coe was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crime scene investigation revealed that there were 2 bullets fired from a 9mm pistol, which the Defendant kept by her bed. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Medical Examiner (ME) determined that the victim was struck by a single bullet in his left armpit area at a slightly downward angle while the firearm was pressed against his skin.
The Defendant gave three statements to law enforcement at the scene, all of which were inconsistent, and gave an additional statement to CCSO Inv. Shawna Wade at the Sheriff’s Office. Her story shifted from being intoxicated and under the influence of sleeping pills and shooting an unidentified intruder to knowing it was her husband and trying to fire “warning shots” because she was scared of him. Text messages between the two, introduced at trial, showed that they had been arguing for days about their message. In one statement to investigators, the Defendant said the victim’s anger during those arguments was the basis of her fear during the interaction that led to the shooting.
During the first trial, the Defendant testified and told a different story than she had previously told to
investigators, and during the second trial she told yet another version of events. Under cross examination in the second trial, the Defendant admitted to lying to the police, to lying to the jury during her direct examination, and to lying under oath previously during the first trial.
The District Attorney’s Office is grateful that jury saw through the Defendant’s repeated lies to find the truth – Cheryl Coe shot and killed her husband for no justifiable reason.
JOHN HERBERT CRANFORD, JR.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
COWETA JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
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