A Georgia woman has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2021 shooting death of her husband.

On Monday, a Coweta County jury convicted 55-year-old Cheryl Coe of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault in the killing of her husband, 48-year-old Luther “Luke” Coe III. The decision came after a week of testimony that laid bare not just the night of the shooting but the troubled dynamics of their marriage.

Authorities were called to the couple’s home on Tommy Lee Cook Road in Newnan on June 23, 2021, after Cheryl dialed 911 and claimed she had accidentally shot Luke. When deputies arrived, they found him alive but gravely wounded in a bedroom. First aid was attempted, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators quickly concluded Cheryl’s story didn’t hold up. A medical examiner testified that muzzle impressions around the wound showed the gun barrel had been pressed directly against Luke’s body when it fired. Prosecutors said that detail left little doubt about intent.

Text messages presented in court offered a glimpse into the couple’s life before the shooting. The two had been in what they described as an open marriage, but the exchanges suggested it was a source of tension. In one message, Cheryl asked Luke for permission to see another man. When Luke pressed her on whether she was planning to meet a second man the same day, she responded, “I could, lol.” Luke admitted the remark “turned his stomach.”

The defense argued Cheryl was intoxicated on the night of the shooting, and that she mixed Klonopin with alcohol. They claim that when her husband entered the room, she panicked and fired, meaning only to scare him. But prosecutors painted her as inconsistent and untrustworthy, pointing to her shifting explanations and the forensic evidence.

“She is the most unreliable of narrators,” prosecutor Laura Lukert said in her closing statement. “The only consistency we have is that that woman shot Luther Coe.”

For jurors, the evidence was clear enough. Cheryl Coe will now spend the rest of her life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

It was a case that began with a claim of an accident but ended with a conviction rooted in what investigators and prosecutors said was the undeniable fact: Luke Coe was shot at close range by the person he trusted most.