WATERLOO, Ill., June 28 (UPI) -- An Illinois judge has denied a request for a new trial for a man convicted of strangling his wife and two sons.
Circuit Judge Milton Wharton ruled Monday in Waterloo that convicted family-killer Christopher Coleman does not deserve a new trial, rejecting claims by Coleman's lawyers of courtroom errors in his trial, the St. Louis (Mo.) Post-Dispatch reported.
Coleman is serving life in prison without parole for strangling his wife, Sheri Coleman, and two preteen sons in their beds at home in Columbia, Ill., in 2009.
At his trial, prosecutors said he wanted them out of the way so he could marry his mistress Tara Lintz.
His attorneys argued in Coleman's trial, Wharton allowed hearsay testimony, including a claim Coleman had beaten his wife in the past, and that the presentation of sexually suggestive photos and videos of Coleman with Lintz inflamed the jury.
Wharton rejected the motion for a retrial, clearing the way for a formal appeal of the convictions, which Coleman's lawyers filed Monday, the Post-Dispatch reported.
