GARETT and GAVIN COLEMAN - (2009) / Convicted: Father Chris Coleman - Columbia IL

A judge approved Chris Coleman’s waiver of his right to a speedy trial, according to the Monroe County Circuit Clerk.
This means it could be a year or more before Coleman stands trial on
three counts of first degree murder. Under Illinois law, an
incarcerated defendant can force the state to go to trial within 120
days from the date of arrest–unless the defendant waives that right.
Police say Coleman murdered his wife, Sheri, and two young sons in
their home on May 5. He then staged the crime scene, police say,
attempting to make it look like a vendetta from a crazed stalker of his
boss, international televangelist Joyce Meyer.
Sheri Coleman’s family has sued Chris Coleman for wrongful death.
They’ve sought documents from Joyce Meyer Ministries, which are
expected to be handed over to Jack Carey (an attorney for Sheri
Coleman’s family) on Thursday.
But, Carey says he won’t immediately comment on the documents until after a full review.

Newly released documents detail more information regarding Chris
Coleman and his work environment, particularly his work relationship
with former employer Joyce Meyer Ministries. This includes new
information that Joyce Meyer had advanced Chris Coleman $10,000 in cash
the day following the Coleman murders.It was known that Joyce
Meyer was quick to arrive in Chris Coleman’s immediate neighborhood
after news of the murders became public, to lend her support. Joyce has
since released a public statement after Chris Coleman was arrested,
“This horrible tragedy had deeply saddened us all and although nothing
can compensate for the loss of the beautiful family, our ministry
remains fully behind the diligent efforts of the law enforcement
community.” Coleman, who is now facing three counts of first-degree
murder, is accused of sending threatening letters and E-Mails to his
own residence and place of business. Those letters and E-Mails
contained degrading remarks about Joyce Meyer in addition to death
threats to his wife and children.Attorney for Joyce Meyer,
Michael King, revealed the nature of the $10,000 advance. The money was
to be used for burial and funeral expenses. The documents showed that
$10,000 in cash had been given to Coleman on May 6, 2009, the day
following the murder, yet the documents didn’t reveal the purpose of
the cash advance. A statement by Michael King reads, “"He said he
didn't have the money at the time for the funeral expense. It was well
before anyone knew he was a suspect."The documents were handed
over to Jack Carey, the attorney representing the family of Sheri
Coleman in a civil suit for wrongful death against Coleman. Carey
stated that he is still pouring over hundreds of documents. More
documents may be released to the public in future weeks.Though
motive for the murders does not need to be proven, it is well-known
that Chris Coleman was involved in an extra-marital affair with his
wife’s Sheri, high school friend, Tara Lintz. Tara Lintz and Sheri
attended Largo High School together. Tara Lintz now lives in St.
Petersburg, Florida.

Murder defendant Christopher Coleman was a model employee at the Joyce
Meyer Ministries but saw himself as "tactless" and "unaffectionate,"
according to documents made public Friday.
He also was having a secret extramarital love affair, police have
said, which apparently put him at odds with the spirit of strict
employment rules.

"We ask that married employees do not travel together or go to lunch
together with other employees/vendors of the opposite sex (unless it is
your spouse or in groups of three or more), and that you do not counsel
one another or conduct business behind closed doors for lengthy periods
of time," the ministry's handbook says.

Jack Carey, a lawyer for Coleman's slain wife's family, obtained the
material as part of a wrongful-death suit against Coleman. The ministry
is not a defendant but was compelled to provide the material.
Coleman, 32, is held without bail pending trial on first-degree murder
charges that say he strangled his wife, Sheri Coleman, 31, and sons
Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, in their home in Columbia.

After discovery of the bodies May 5, but before Coleman's arrest May
19, the Post-Dispatch publicly revealed his relationship with Tara
Lintz, a onetime close friend of his wife's, who lives in Largo, Fla.
The day after that story, Coleman resigned as security manager for
Meyer.

The internal documents show the ministry viewed Coleman as an employee
who acted with integrity and never failed to impart Joyce and Dave
Meyer's "heart and vision" to fellow employees. The ministry frequently
gave Coleman raises as he ran its growing security department.

However, Coleman also took a personality test for the ministry, in
which he described his own weaknesses as "withdrawn" and "moody" and
"tactless" and "unaffectionate."

Coleman traveled extensively for work. Flight records from the ministry
show that he flew to Florida in November 2008, December 2008 and
January 2009. He also flew to Hawaii in January, where police allege he
met with Lintz.

Lintz and Coleman had extensive communications through social
networking websites, e-mail and telephone conversations, according to
search warrant affidavits.

Coleman had a $250,000 life insurance policy on himself, with Sheri
Coleman as beneficiary, the newly released material shows. It also
indicates that he applied for a $15,000 hardship withdrawal from a
ministry retirement plan to pay for funeral and burial expenses.

The documents show the ministry barred use of personal cell phones
during work hours and ordered that use of computers be only for
ministry business.

Police allege that Coleman attempted to make the crime look like the
work of an enemy of the ministry, sending threats to his family over a
computer network registered with the ministry and spray-painting hate
messages on the walls at the murder scene.

Monroe County State's Attorney Kris
Reitz has filed paperwork to possibly seek the death penalty against
Chris Coleman, who is accused of fatally strangling his wife and their
two sons at their home in Columbia.
St. Louis television station KTVI reported Friday that court documents
indicate Reitz will note that there were multiple victims, two were
under the age of 12, and the slayings appear to have been premeditated.
The 32-year-old Coleman has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, and is being held without bond.
Investigators say they believe Coleman used a ligature to strangle 31-year-old Sheri Coleman and their sons Garett and Gavin.
The three were found dead May 5 after Coleman telephoned police to ask them to do a well-being check on his family.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Milton Wharton will preside over the Chris Coleman triple murder case.
John Baricevic, the chief judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit,
stepped aside from the case today because he isn’t certified to handle
death penalty cases.
Coleman, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in
the strangulation of his wife Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and
Gavin, 9, whose bodies were found in their home on May 5. The Monroe
County state’s attorney announced on Friday that he will seek the death
penalty if Coleman is convicted.
Wharton has been on the bench for more than 30 years. (A profile I wrote of Wharton is included below.)
This is the third judge to preside over the case — and probably the
last. Illinois law allows a murder defendant to disqualify two judges,
which Coleman has already done.

Chris Coleman is back in court


08/26/2009


WATERLOO -- Chris Coleman appeared in the Monroe County Courthouse today for the first time since he was arraigned in May in the murders of his wife and two sons.

The court appearance was brief, with attorneys discussing the process of being certified to represent Coleman in the death penalty case.

Prosecutors announced their intention earlier this year to seek the death penalty.

Judge Milton Wharton asked Coleman how he was being treated at the jail, and Coleman said he had no complaints. He said his legal representation from Clayton defense attorneys Bill and Arthur Margulis has been "excellent."

Coleman, 32, appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit. His hair was longer than the military crew cut he had when he was arrested in May.

The case isn't expected to go to trial until next spring or summer.

Coleman's lawyers said they are still considering a motion to move the trial away from Monroe County because of widespread media coverage

Sheri Coleman's family seeking funeral home financial records


08/27/2009


Lawyers representing the family of slain Sheri Coleman and her two sons are seeking financial records from a Chester, Ill., funeral home involving money raised on the family's behalf.

The lawyers filed a subpoena on Thursday requesting records from the Pechacek-McClure Funeral Home in Chester. The items requested focus on any and all information related to financial donations made at the funeral home after the murders.

The subpoena is for the custodian of records at the funeral home.

Christopher Coleman, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the strangulation of his wife Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, whose bodies were found in their home May 5.

The three are buried in Chester.

Sheri Coleman's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Christopher Coleman shortly after his arrest. Both Joyce Meyer Ministries and Ronald Coleman, Chris Coleman's father, are named as respondents in discovery in the suit. They are not defendants.

The attorneys representing Sheri Coleman's family have said they are trying to prevent Chris Coleman from having financial gain from the murders.

Both the ministry and Ronald Coleman have provided information to the attorneys after some legal wrangling. The attorneys have requested additional information from the ministry, specifically asking what it knew about Christopher Coleman's relationship with his girlfriend in Florida.

Coleman attorney became involved in case within hours of murders



WATERLOO -- The attorney defending Christopher Coleman said in a hearing on Wednesday that he became involved in the case within hours of the murders of Coleman's wife and sons.
"I want to make clear that we have been involved within hours of the occurrence, not the charges, the occurrence," said William Margulis, who, along with his father Art Margulis, is representing Coleman.
William and Art Margulis are scheduled to attend a class on Oct. 29 so they can be certified to handle Illinois capital cases, a requirement implemented under former Gov. George Ryan's reforms enacted in 2001. Art and William Margulis both said they expect certification after the course completion.

Christopher Coleman says he is too poor to pay his legal fees and is asking a judge to declare him indigent.

Coleman, 32, lists his total debts and liabilities at $243,000, according to an affidavit filed on Thursday. The affidavit shows Coleman is upside down on the mortgage of his home in Columbia, Ill. The home's value is listed at $195,000. It currently has a $240,000 mortgage.

If a judge is convinced Coleman has no money, he could get access to the Illinois Capital Litigation Fund to pay the costs of his legal defense.

Coleman is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the strangulation of his wife, Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The fund, supported by tax dollars, was set up in 2000 after revelations that innocent men had been sentenced to death in Illinois. It was designed to ensure that all death penalty trials are properly funded, allowing defense attorneys and others to tap the fund for their trial expenses.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill overhauling the fund last month in response to a Post-Dispatch investigation., which found the fund was being abused by lawyers, private investigators and expert witnesses, who charge steep fees just to drive, make copies and send e-mails.

The investigation also found that John Paul Carroll, a lawyer who sparked outrage from state legislators in 2005 for billing the state $2 million for a murder case defense, was assigned to a new death penalty case last year even though his law license was once suspended and he recently admitted to making a serious legal error in another case.

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee filed a complaint against him last month.

Coleman was the private security manager for televangelist Joyce Meyer. He resigned the job shortly after the Post-Dispatch first disclosed he was having an affair with one of Sheri Coleman's friends in Florida.

The ministry job paid Coleman 100,000 a year, and it gave him a $10,000 pay advance the day after the murders.

Coleman has retained Clayton lawyers Art and William Margulis, who are in the process of being death penalty certified in Illinois.

Man charged with strangling family found indigent





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- September 4, 2009 8:54 PM ET

WATERLOO, Ill. (AP) - A Monroe County judge has found murder defendant Christopher Coleman indigent and has appointed two new death penalty certified defense lawyers to handle the case of the southwestern Illinois man accused of strangling his wife and their two sons.
Circuit Court Judge Milton Wharton appointed Belleville attorneys John O'Gara and Jim Stern on Friday to represent the 32-year-old Coleman.
Coleman remains jailed without bond and has pleaded not guilty to charges he strangled his wife and sons, ages 11 and 9, in May in their Columbia home.
An affidavit filed on Coleman's behalf suggests his home mortgage is $45,000 more than the structure is worth, and that Coleman has just $1,000 in assets.

WATERLOO — A judge declared Friday that accused killer Christopher Coleman qualifies for taxpayer-funded defense lawyers even though attorneys paid by his father will remain on the case
Coleman, 32, charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation in May of his wife and two sons, claimed in a court motion to have more debts than assets, and no income.

Circuit Judge Milton Wharton declared Coleman indigent and appointed John O'Gara and James Stern, who practice law in Belleville and are state-certified for death penalty cases. Wharton said he could find no certified lawyers to appoint from Monroe County, where the crime occurred.

The judge could not name Art and Bill Margulis, a prominent father-son team from Clayton who have represented Coleman so far, because they have not yet been certified for Illinois capital cases. State's Attorney Kris Reitz has filed notice of seeking a death sentence.

The Margulises said they will stay on the case, too. Art Margulis said in court Friday that they had been paid by Coleman's father, the Rev. Ron Coleman of Chester, Ill., and may continue to be from time-to-time.

Wharton did not object but emphasized that the Margulises cannot be paid with taxpayer money. They have represented Coleman since shortly after the bodies were found May 5 and are in the process of obtaining the certification needed to continue representing him.

All four lawyers are deeply experienced in criminal defense, including capital cases.

O'Gara, considered by the court to be Coleman's lead attorney now, won an acquittal in 2005 for James Wiley, who was prosecuted by Reitz in the murder of Wiley's wife, Twila, in Waterloo.

Coleman once made $100,000 a year as security manager for televangelist Joyce Meyer. Now he gets access to the taxpayer-supported Illinois Capital Litigation Trust Fund, which pays defense costs for indigents facing a possible death penalty.

The fund was set up in 2000 out of concern that some innocent men had been sentenced to death. But it has been the subject of public scorn. Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill overhauling the fund last month, in response to a Post-Dispatch investigation which found the money had been abused by some lawyers, private investigators and expert witnesses who charged steep fees just to drive, make copies or send e-mails.

O'Gara was involved in writing the reform legislation. Stricter spending rules won't go into effect until January, but Judge Wharton said he would enforce them immediately.

By law, O'Gara must submit an estimated budget and vouch under oath for every expense submitted.

The average cost to defend a death penalty case ranges from $500,000 to $700,000, according to the Illinois Treasurer's Office.

O'Gara said the case has so far produced around 2,000 pages of documents from police for him to review.

Officials claim that Coleman was having an extra-marital affair when he fabricated threats related to his work with the Joyce Meyer Ministries and strangled his wife, Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, in their beds at home in Columbia, Ill

Coleman lawyer: 'I try to see Jesus Christ in the face of everyone I defend'

Belleville lawyer John O'Gara, has stood beside people accused of the most heinous crimes committed in the state -- a necropheliac serial killer who targeted children, a murderer convicted of shooting a 9-week-old infant in the face with a shotgun and most recently, a Columbia father and husband accused of strangling his whole family.
"I try to see Jesus Christ in the face of everyone I defend," O'Gara said. "Does that mean I love all my clients or have loved all my clients? Absolutely not. I'm a person like everybody else. There are clients who have pushed every button and make me angry, then I have to draw inspiration from the people who love them."
O'Gara, 48, has a new client, Christopher Coleman, former bodyguard for television evangelist Joyce Meyer, who faces the death penalty if he's convicted of the strangulations of his wife and two young sons.
O'Gara defends clients facing the death penalty because his love of the law and his Catholic faith compels him to do it, he said.
There's a portrait of Thomas Moore, patron saint of lawyers, in the lobby of his office. O'Gara keeps a prayer written by Moore in the center drawer of his desk. O'Gara attended St. Stephen's Catholic Grade School in Caseyville, then Althoff Catholic High School, Quincy College and St. Louis University Law School.
"I'm a complete product of the Catholic school system," O'Gara said.
As a testament to his faith, O'Gara opposes the capital punishment, championing death penalty reforms by former Gov. George Ryan.
"He really believes that what people do to the least of his brothers and sisters you do to Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Clyde Grogan, O'Gara's friend. "He stands with people who have no one to stand beside them. He's a true Catholic."
In 2001, a jury recommended the death penalty for O'Gara client Lorenzo Fayne, who pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of East St. Louis children, but Ryan commuted the sentence to life in prison. In the 20 capital cases O'Gara's represented, it's the only case where one of O'Gara's clients received the death penalty.
O'Gara also speaks passionately about the U.S. Constitution.
"What makes this country great? The fact that we have a system of laws that protects even those individuals that society has decided should just be thrown away," O'Gara said. "It's a protection that we all have, not just those accused under the Constitution."
By "all," O'Gara means even those who can't afford a lawyer. Last year, St. Clair County judges named him the county's public defender, earning $25,000 a year for mentoring five full-time and 13 part-time public defenders who handle about 700 to 800 cases a year for the county's poor who are accused of crimes.
The first client a public defender has is the Constitution, Madison County Public Defender John Rekowski said, and O'Gara believes this -- especially when the client is facing the death penalty.
O'Gara worked on a murder case in 1984, assisting the Knox County public defender by preparing motions and interviewing witnesses, earning $75 a week and sleeping on his college roommate's floor. The prosecutor dismissed the case the day it was set to go to trial. O'Gara was hooked.
He passed the bar exam in November 1987. Less than six months later, he defended a man accused of residential burglary and arson. The man was acquitted.
O'Gara still has a bank statement from that some month that shows he had $3.33 in his bank account. He had just bought a 1979 LTD, then he said he gathered all the change from his apartment and went to the store and bought a bunch of macaroni. It was nine days from payday, O'Gara said.
"You don't do this to get famous and you don't do it to get rich," he said. "You do it because you love being in front of a jury and getting justice."
But even when the crime is less serious, O'Gara always advocates for his clients.
"His clients always come first, and he treats them with such respect," said Sharon Norsigian, office manager for the St. Clair County public defender's office. "He has the highest character and he expects the same from the other attorneys who work at the public defender's office."
O'Gara's father was a receiving clerk at an auto frame manufacturer in Granite City. His grandfather was the original member of Labor Union 100 and worked for the East St. Louis Street Department until he was 79 years old. O'Gara was the first in his family to go to college.
"My roots are really very blue-collar," he said.
O'Gara will get paid for representing Coleman from the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, earning $151 an hour, about $100 less than the rate for criminal defense lawyers.
A colleague chuckled at an online comment regarding the Coleman case posted by a News-Democrat reader who called O'Gara a "silk-stocking lawyer."
"He's probably the most underestimated lawyer in the state," East Alton lawyer John Stobbs said. "He looks and acts just like normal guy, but he's just brilliant."
Empathizing with clients is one of O'Gara's greatest gifts, Stobbs and Rekowski said. "He's a nice guy with a big heart who is absolutely, truly genuine," Rekowski said.
O'Gara's mother, a German immigrant, died the day after he turned 13. His father died just nine years later when O'Gara was in law school. Both died from the effects of alcoholism, O'Gara said
"Everyone is flawed, but they were great people," O'Gara said. "I wished they hadn't checked out so early."
But he's surrounded by family now. He and his wife, Anna, have been married 17 years and have two daughters, Maggie and Mary Kate. Jim Gomric Sr. founded the firm where O'Gara works with Jim Gomric Jr. and his wife, Julie. Jim's mother, Rose, is their legal assistant.
"He's a devoted family man," Rekowski said. "He's just all about his wife and kids."

A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against a man charged with murdering his wife and two sons is now seeking to add the ministry of televangelist Joyce Meyer as a defendant.

The proposed amendment to the suit, filed on behalf of the family of the slain mother of two, suggests that May 5 killings of Sheri Coleman and her sons might not have occurred if Joyce Meyer Ministries had followed its own policy and taken action.
“The plaintiffs are informed, and believe, that JMM negligently and carelessly failed to do any of these things,” the suit claims after listing four possible courses of action, including confronting its security manager, Christopher Coleman, “with the fact that JMM knew that he had written and delivered all three threats against his wife and children;” warning Sheri Coleman directly; turning the matter over to one or more police agencies; and immediately dismissing Coleman from employment.
“As a direct or proximate result of one or more of these negligent acts or omissions by JMM, neither Sheri Coleman nor any police agency was properly warned of the danger to Sheri Coleman, Garrett Coleman, and Gavin Coleman; Christopher Coleman was not prevent from carrying out the threats he had written and delivered to JMM; and, instead, Christopher Coleman was able, without hindrance, to murder [his family] in their own home,” it adds.
The latest development comes nearly three months after JMM turned over 400 pages of documents that included Coleman's work timetable, salary, benefits, life insurance information, ministry's employee handbook and airline tickets and schedules on commercial flights and private airline passenger lists from JMM.
Though JMM was initially named a “respondent in discovery” in the case, Sheri Coleman’s family is asking the court to add the ministry as an additional defendant in the case, which will be heard at Monroe County Circuit Court in Waterloo, Mo.
If the family’s motion is granted, they would be seeking at least $50,000 from JMM, in addition to the costs of their suit.
In response to the new filing, JMM insisted that it had “directed that appropriate law enforcement be contacted regarding the threats.”
“The Ministry has cooperated in every respect with law enforcement in the investigation of these crimes," it added, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Previously, the ministry stated that "no reasonable person would suggest that any employer should be responsible for the criminal acts of its employees committed against his or her family outside of work just because that person is an employee."
"Joyce Meyer Ministries had no knowledge prior to these tragic deaths of an extra marital affair involving Chris Coleman. Neither did the Ministry have prior knowledge that Chris Coleman allegedly was the source of threats against his family," responded JMM’s attorney, Michael King, in a prepared statement. "
According to investigators, Coleman had called police from a gym on May 5 and asked a police officer who had investigated prior threats related to the family to check on them after calls to the house allegedly went unanswered.
When police got to the house later that morning, they found the bodies of Coleman’s 31-year-old wife and two children, 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin, all strangled with some type of wire, rope or cord. Spray-painted across the walls of the house, meanwhile, were obscenities that appeared to have been directed at Sheri Coleman, including the words “punished,” “wh*re paid,” “u have paid,” and “I saw you leave, [expletive] you, I am always watching.”
Though it was well-known that the family had received threatening letters and that their mailbox was tampered with, police arrested Coleman around two weeks later after more evidence came forward.
The week before, Coleman had resigned from his position at Joyce Meyer Ministries after being questioned about a violation of the organization's moral conduct policy, according to Roby Walker, a spokesman for Joyce Meyer.
Walker would not say what policy Coleman allegedly violated but reports have alleged that he was romantically involved with a woman from Largo, Fla., and had visited her while traveling with the ministry.
Coleman, who pleaded “not guilty” on May 20, has since remained in jail and denied bond by the judge.

Lawyer: Televangelist Joyce Meyer knew Coleman was having affair; should have warned family


Ministry denies suit allegations


WATERLOO -- Televangelist Joyce Meyer knew that her former bodyguard, Christopher Coleman, was having an affair with a Florida woman and should have warned Coleman's family that he had made veiled threats to kill them, a Belleville lawyer said Monday.




Joyce Meyer Ministries denied those allegations in a written statement issued Monday afternoon.
Attorney Jack Carey, who represents the family of murder victims Sheri Coleman, 32, and the couple's sons, Gavin, 9, and Garett, 11, said Meyer knew that Christopher Coleman was having an affair with Tara Lintz, a family friend from St. Petersburg, Fla. Carey said he based his allegation that Meyer knew about the affair before the murders of Sheri and the boys in May through a review of police investigative files of the murders.

Lawyer: Joyce Meyer's son traveled with Coleman, his Florida girlfriend

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER - News-Democrat

Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

Excerpt:

WATERLOO -- Televangelist Joyce Meyer's son traveled with accused killer Chris Coleman and Coleman's Florida girlfriend, Chicago area attorney Enrico Mirabelli said today after a civil court hearing that seeks to add the Joyce Meyer Ministries as a lawsuit defendant.

. . . . . .

Mirabelli made the statement that the accused murderer and his girlfriend, Tara Lintz of St. Petersburg, Fla., traveled with the famous minister's son in connection as part of Mirabelli's effort to convince a judge to add Joyce Meyer Ministries as a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit stemming from the deaths.

. . . . .

Mike King, attorney for Joyce Meyer Ministries, denied the allegations. King would not state whether he will oppose efforts to have Joyce Meyers or any of the ministry's employees deposed. King filed objections to convert the ministry to a defendant in the suit on Friday. King also did not waive the necessity of calling witnesses.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/991529.html

Christopher Coleman was in Monroe County Circuit Court Friday asking a judge to give him better access to his family.Defense attorney John O'Gara declined to elaborate on the exact issue with Coleman's jail visits.Monroe
County Sheriff Dan Kelly said after the hearing that Coleman is
afforded visits with his family once a week, either on Wednesday
afternoons or Sunday mornings at the jail.
Coleman is the son of Rev. Ron Coleman, who heads Grace Church
Ministries in Chester. The church has services on Sunday mornings and
Bible study on Wednesday evening, according to its Web site.Coleman is segregated at the jail, where he is being held without bail, for his own protection, Kelly said."I don't know how other prisoners would react to him, given what he's charged with," Kelly said.Coleman
is charged with the first-degree murder of his wife Sheri Coleman, 31,
and the couple's sons, Garett, 11 and Gavin, 9. He could face the death
penalty, if he's convicted.During the hearing, O'Gara and Assistant State's Attorney Kris Reitz tentatively set the trial for August.Coleman,
the former bodyguard of televangelist Joyce Meyer, is charged with
strangling his wife and two young sons, who were found on May 5 in
their home in Columbia. Prosecutors and lawyers for his wife's family
have said Coleman was having an affair and wanted to be free of his
family.Ron Coleman, Coleman's father, attended Friday afternoon's hearing in Waterloo.In
other business during the hearing, Circuit Judge Milton Wharton signed
an order allowing Coleman to receive copies of the police reports and
other documents related to his case.Wharton also ordered that
any additional reports from police, the Illinois State Police Forensic
Crime Lab or any other private laboratory have to be provided to Reitz
who will share them with the defense.The order also requires Dr. Michael Baden to turn over any reports or tests or anything related to the case.Granite
City Police Maj. Jeff Connor, who headed the investigation for the
Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis, to determine the time of death.
Baden is the former chief medical examiner for New York City and is the
chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police.Police
found the bodies of Sheri Coleman and her sons about 7 a.m. May 5 after
Christopher Coleman called police from a Gold's Gym in south St. Louis
and asked police to check on them. Baden placed the time of death
between 11 p.m. and midnight of the previous day, when Coleman would
have been home.Wharton also ordered that motions for a change of venue should be filed in the next two weeks.Coleman will next appear in court on March 29.

Christopher Coleman has refused a jail visit by a former co-worker at Joyce Meyer Ministries.Monroe
County Jail records show Christopher Coleman turned away Michael
Shepard in September. Shepard is leadership training coordinator for
Missouri-based Joyce Meyer Ministries.Shepard's lawyer says his
client and Coleman were friends before the murders and that Shepard
tried to visit in a personal capacity. Coleman has allowed visits from ministers who are affiliated with the church where his father is pastor.Coleman
has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the May deaths
of his wife, Sheri Coleman, and their two sons, ages 11 and 9. Their
bodies were found in the family's Columbia home.

What were they looking for? Search teams return to Coleman home

FBI joins in, but federal charges appear unlikely

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

Excerpt:

COLUMBIA -- Special search teams from the FBI and the Illinois State Police spent the last two days at the residence where a 31-year-old mother and her two sons were found strangled in separate bedrooms in May.
. . . . .

"They've been there since yesterday searching it," said Edwards, who declined to comment on what the investigators were looking for. Neighbors witnessed plainclothes officers taking measurements of the home's windows and dimensions. Coleman said that the assistance of the FBI did not mean that federal charges against Coleman were contemplated.

READ MORE: http://www.bnd.com/2010/02/27/1151959/search-teams-return-to-coleman.html

Coleman murder trial: Jurors outside of Monroe County will hear case

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - Belleville News-Democrat

Wednesday, Apr. 14, 2010

Excerpt:

WATERLOO -- The trial of Christopher Coleman will take place in Monroe County, but the jurors will be brought to the courthouse in Waterloo from another county.

That was the crux of a court order issued Tuesday by 20th Judicial Circuit Judge Milton Wharton in response to a request by defense attorney John O'Gara for a change of venue because of massive pretrial publicity. The order did not specify which county would be used to supply jurors.


Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/04/14/1214724/outside-jurors-to-hear-coleman.html#ixzz0l7CA8KMU

The white, three-bedroom, lakeside home with blue shutters in
the well-manicured subdivision might have drawn more bidders to a
foreclosure auction if not for the triple slaying that took place there
last year.Police have said former bodyguard Christopher Coleman
spray-painted graffiti on a living room wall to make it look like an
intruder had entered the home before he strangled his wife and two young
sons in the upstairs bedrooms. Because Illinois law requires
foreclosures to be sold "as is," the graffiti is still there.Only
one bid was entered Tuesday when the house in Columbia went up for
auction. Wells Fargo, which already held the mortgage on the home, put
in a $256,420 offer, snapping up the place some neighbors weary of
gawkers had hoped to see reduced to rubble. Many had wondered who would
buy it - often the million-dollar question with dwellings that have
become crime scenes.
The auction's only bystander was a trustee for the subdivision's
homeowner's group, watching the proceedings out of curiosity. Susan
Walla suspected the lack of bidders might reflect that "no one really
wanted to buy it" - or maybe that folks just found it "creepy."But
although local residents may be well aware of such properties' history,
not all buyers are warned.Two states - Alaska and South Dakota -
require sellers to disclose whether there was a murder or suicide on
the property in the previous year. At least six other states -
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Dakota and
Oklahoma - require such information be revealed if the buyer directly
asks, according to the National Association of Realtors.But in
most states, there are no laws compelling sellers to volunteer the
information, forcing buyers worried about such things to quiz police and
neighbors before they sign. Or they can ask the seller and see what
happens.Pam Westhoff wishes she had done that.When she and
her husband, John, bought a ranch home in 2000 in the Kansas City area
community of Leawood, Kan., they didn't know a man had been bludgeoned
to death and his wife badly beaten there with a baseball bat the
previous year. It was a crime so gruesome the prosecutor told jurors
blood covered "every inch" of the place.Pam Westhoff, 63, heard
about it later - weeks after they'd already taken out a $209,000
mortgage - from a contractor installing a garage door opener."I
almost went to my knees. It was a shock," Westhoff said Monday by
telephone from the home she says still gives her unease, partly because
the murder victim was similar in age to her late father. When asked if
she would have bought the place knowing its violent history, she didn't
hesitate: "Absolutely not."The Westhoffs sued, arguing they were
victims of misrepresentation and a violation of Kansas' consumer
protection laws. But no Kansas law requires real-estate professionals to
disclose that a home or apartment was where anyone came to a violent
demise, and the Westhoffs dropped their $5.7 million lawsuit in 2004,
realizing it was futile and expensive.When and if the couple
sells the house, Pam Westhoff said she will be upfront about its
history."I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't tell
prospective buyers that someone was murdered here," she said. "You don't
want your little children going to school and hearing it from a
classmate."Walla also said she'd never feel comfortable living in
a crime scene, but she believes any prospective buyer should be told
about the killings in her neighborhood. She pledged to do her best to
welcome any new occupant of the house the Colemans bought in 2005 for
$212,000, well less than the $230,000 plus interest Wells Fargo said
lately that Coleman owes.Prosecutors are seeking the death
penalty against Coleman, who is in jail awaiting trial.A St.
Louis-area spokesman for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Tom Goyda, said he
could not talk specifically about Tuesday's bid, but usually foreclosed
properties get put back on the market once any fixups are done.

Saturday, Jul. 10, 2010

Coleman triple murder trial delayed until 2011; defense challenging death penalty

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

WATERLOO -- After a flurry of defense motions was filed Friday, most of which concerned the state's death penalty, Circuit Judge Milton Wharton postponed until next year the first-degree murder trial of Christopher Coleman, accused of strangling his wife and two young sons.

The trial is now tentatively set for January or February. The delay from the previous Oct. 25 trial start date was needed because of the scheduling of expert witnesses and to allow the defense time to fully prepare.

Belleville attorney John O'Gara, who heads the defense team for the accused 33-year-old former head of security for Joyce Meyer Ministries in Missouri, presented Wharton with 26 motions, varying in length from two to 13 pages.

The pile of paperwork challenges the Illinois death penalty on several levels, from whether it is constitutional to whether it should be barred in the Coleman case because since 1977, when it was reinstituted in the state, 20 male prisoners in Illinois "have been exonerated and released from prison." During this same time, 12 men were executed.

The motions also seek Wharton's permission to allow the defense to specifically question potential trial jurors about their views toward the death penalty.

Sheri Coleman, 32, and sons Gavin, 9, and Garett, 12, were found dead May 5, 2009, in separate upstairs bedrooms of the family's Columbia home on Robert Drive. They were killed in their beds and, in the case of the boys, obscene graffiti was spray-painted on their bed coverings. On the first floor of the house, which has been repossessed by a bank, the word "Punished" and obscene graffiti was sprayed in red paint.

On that morning, a surveillance camera set up at the home of a neighboring Columbia police officer caught Christopher Coleman leaving before 6 a.m. for a workout at a south St. Louis County gym. According to court documents, he called his home and, after claiming to get no answer, called police and rushed home. Investigators found a rear basement screen pushed out, but found no footprints or other evidence of an intruder inside.

Police documents state that Coleman, who is in the Monroe County Jail without bail, wanted to divorce Sheri Coleman and marry his girlfriend, Tara Lintz, a Florida dog track waitress. Lintz was a high school friend of Sheri Coleman's.

Christopher Coleman was the personal bodyguard for Meyer.


Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/07/10/1324606/coleman-trial-is-delayed-until.html#ixzz0tOSEViGi

Chris Coleman trial set for February 15

Waterloo, Ill. (KSDK) -- Jury selection will begin in the murder trial of Chris Coleman on February 15, a judge said Friday afternoon.

Coleman is accused of killing his wife, Sheri and their two sons, Gavin and Garett, in their Columbia, Illinois home in May 2009.

A judge ruled earlier in the case that the trial will be held in Monroe County, but jurors will be pulled from elsewhere in Illinois. Coleman's attorneys contended that finding jurors who had not heard about the Coleman case in Monroe County would be nearly impossible.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Coleman, who once worked as a bodyguard for televangelist Joyce Meyer.

Prosecutors allege that Coleman fabricated threats leading up to the day of the killings to make it look like someone else committed the murders.

Coleman was known to have a mistress in Florida, and prosecutors believe he killed his wife and children to avoid getting a divorce, which would cost him his job with Joyce Meyer Ministries.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=224238&catid=3

Thursday, Dec. 09, 2010

Coleman attorneys try to block wife's text messages about marital problems

Excerpt:

WATERLOO -- Attorneys for a Columbia man accused of killing his wife and their two children are trying to block prosecutors from using text messages she sent to friends about marital problems.

. . . .

Prosecutors argued in court documents filed Tuesday that Sheri Coleman told friends before her death that her husband had physically abused her. She also told friends that her husband wanted out of the marriage to devote his attention to his job as the security chief for the Joyce Meyer Ministries, according to the documents.

"Chris wants a divorce," one of the texts said, according to prosecutors. "He said me and my kids are in the way of his job. He told me he's leaving me for his job! But if Joyce (Meyer) finds out she will fire him. It got so bad I told Joyce. He was (angry) to say the least but that was the breaking point. She forced him into counseling."


Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/12/09/1506976/coleman-attorneys-try-to-block.html#ixzz17iodAIcp

Hearing today in Chris Coleman murder case

December 28, 2010

Friends of Coleman's murdered wife, Sheri, are expected to testify in a Waterloo courtroom Tuesday regarding messages they received. Ryan Dean reports.

VIDEO REPORT: http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=142913#/News/Hearing+today+in+Chris+Coleman+murder+case/48541678001/48355648001/727152968001