Judge dismisses convicted murderer Chris Coleman’s petition for new trial
A judge has dismissed a petition from Christopher Coleman, the Columbia man convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and two sons in 2011, that would grant him the opportunity for a new trial.
Circuit Court Judge Stephen McGlynn made the decision via Zoom meeting on Thursday afternoon in the presence of Coleman from his correctional facility in Wisconsin, prosecutors and Coleman’s former defense attorney Lloyd M. Cueto.
Earlier this month, McGlynn allowed Coleman to represent himself in court proceedings, but appointed Cueto to remain in the case as stand-by counsel.
Coleman has been fighting for a new trial since June 2011. In April 2019, McGlynn granted him an evidentiary hearing to examine the competency of his original defense and consider other physical evidence that was not brought into original arguments.
At the hearing before McGlynn in April 2019, Cueto argued on Coleman’s behalf that the conviction in the 2009 murders was made on the basis of evidence the jury wasn’t supposed to see.
In Coleman’s trial, jurors found small copies of four explicit images of Coleman and his lover, Tara Lintz, on the back of an evidence display. Judge Milton Wharton had ruled that the photos should not be entered into evidence unless the couple’s genitals were obscured. Jurors found the uncensored photos mistakenly attached to another evidence display.
A date imprinted on the photos by the camera was inconsistent with the date Coleman had said he and Lintz began their affair. Jurors returned a guilty verdict to the court. He was sentenced to life in prison for strangling his wife, Sheri, and two sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, on May 5, 2009.
In April 2018, Cueto filed a request in the 20th Circuit Court to reconsider Coleman’s conviction based on the meta data the jury had found. McGlynn allowed the process to move forward in March 2019.
According to Monroe County State’s Attorney Chris E. Hitzemann, McGlynn said in a July 2 Zoom meeting that he was going to review the record again in its entirety. Upon that review, McGlynn decided Thursday that there was no need for further evidence and dismissed Coleman’s petition.
“I have concluded that the way that evidence was handled does not justify any further relief,” he said.
McGlynn said that the argument “did not rise to the level of establishing inefficiency of counsel” and that no further hearings would be necessary to object to the thumbnail evidence.
“I couldn’t be more satisfied with the ruling today dismissing Coleman’s post-conviction petition,” Hitzemann said in an email. “After the ruling, I informed the officers and investigators that had been involved in the case, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Throughout this process, their dedication to justice for Sheri, Garett, and Gavin was evident and impressive.”
Thursday’s ruling will be entered at another hearing on Aug. 6, after which Coleman will have the opportunity to appeal McGlynn’s decision to the Fifth District Appellate Court.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 5:40 PM.
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