Husband Killed 'Cheating' Wife Then Targeted Another Victim: Police

He knew he was already going to jail, so. why stop killing? That's the allegation. against the Virginia husband and father. who reportedly gunned down his wife as. well as a good Samaritan who had come to. check on her. We're digging into the. details of these grizzly killings and. what the suspect apparently had to say. to police. All with an attorney who. focuses specifically on these kinds of. domestic violence cases. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber.

Hey everybody, real quick. This is. another law and crime legal alert. Did. you know that children are being. diagnosed with serious conditions like. type2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty. liver disease? And the research is. potentially linking ultrarocessed foods. to all this. Yeah. Well, Morgan and. Morgan is stepping in to fight to hold. these food companies accountable. With. decades of experience fighting large. corporations, they are ready to stand up. for the families who deserve justice. So, if your child under 21 has been. diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty.

liver disease, then visit. www.forthepeople.com/food. or scan the QR code on screen to learn. more. Okay, we have this small community in. Virginia that was absolutely rocked by a. double homicide that resulted in the. deaths of a young mother and a family. friend. Authorities with the Henry. County Sheriff's Office identified the. two victims as 22-year-old Mandy Coleman. and 68-year-old William Loy my a.

criminal complaint that was filed with. the court and that was reviewed by local. media outlet WDBJ. lays out the allegations against the. suspect here, 30-year-old Joshua. Coleman. He is Mandy's husband. And. apparently this is all based on. Coleman's own alleged confession. Now, we really want to get a good. understanding and insight into not only. how domestic violence cases can go this. far, but what happens next in court. And. so, for that, I want to bring on Texas. trial attorney Anthony Oso, who.

specializes in this kind of law. And. Anthony is going to walk through each. one of these different pieces of this. case with me. Uh, Anthony, thanks so. much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me. >> So, I want to dig into the suspect's. mindset. I want to get into whether he. is trying to go for an insanity defense. with some of his actions. But first, let. me lay out what the sheriff's office. said happened. We go to Tuesday, July. 22nd around 1 p.m., and the sheriff's. office got a report about a shooting in. the Ridgeway area. Deputies find William.

dead from multiple gunshot wounds in the. road in front of a house there. And. according to WDBJ, deputies later. determined that William had gone to the. home on Meek's Road to check on Mandy. Coleman. later encountered her husband, Joshua Coleman, who had allegedly just. shot her in the head not long before. So, when investigators identified. Coleman as the suspect, they apparently. tracked him down and arrested him within. a few hours, and the couple's two young. children were with him. Now, here's the.

good news. At least physically, they. were unharmed. Before I go any further. into this, Anthony, talk to me about the. impact on children in these kinds of. situations. These children are young, reportedly 10 months old, two years old. Even if they didn't actually witness. their dad allegedly shoot their mom, they're still going to be dealing with. trauma in the after effects of all this. >> Absolutely, Jesse. Severe trauma. There's I don't think that there's. anything worse that a kid could go.

through because not only did they lose. their mother here, but but you know at. the hands of a violent crime like this. and um my understanding also losing. their father is just horrible for a kid. to have to go through live with for the. rest of their life and and something. that they're going to have to deal with. for the years to come. So it's a. horrible uh part of this case in. addition to them to the the loss of Miss. Coleman. >> Yeah. We talk about all the time with. domestic violence cases or alleged. domestic violence cases. It's not just. the victim in the case, but it's also.

who's left behind and the children are. left behind. So, we go back to this. Coleman was arrested during a traffic. stop and reportedly he had a handgun and. an AR-15 rifle. Now, WDBJ reports that. Coleman admitted to deputies that he. killed both Mandy and William. According. to the criminal complaint, Coleman and. Mandy got into a heated argument in. which he accused her of cheating on him. He allegedly told investigators he went. to his room, grabbed a gun, and shot her.

in the head. Anthony, if that is true, if he made these admissions, why did he. make these admissions? Why do you see. criminal defendants make admissions like. this? >> Well, I sometimes it really is case. specific, Jesse, and not every criminal. is necessarily a criminal mastermind, right? So, um, sometimes there's no real theory or. thought or or intelligent mindset behind. it. They sometimes feel like they have. no other option and they don't want to.

run from the problem and they kind of. feel like they're a dead end. So, you do. see that sometimes. Um, in this. instance, we can't really say quite yet. why Coleman reported or at least. admitted to the shooting in this case. Um, and maybe he thought that would that. the argument that led up to it was some. sort of explanation for what he did. >> Now, someone might hear this and say, "Okay, it's an openand-shut case. That's. it." The problem is that's not always. true, right? Even if you have an alleged. admission, an alleged confession, there.

are ways for defense attorneys to keep. it out of trial, right? >> Yes, there are. And you really have to. look at, well, first and foremost, was. he read his Miranda rights? um if he's. back in an interview room, we've got to. assume that he was under arrest at that. point. Uh so there is potentially a. suppression um argument to be made. there. I imagine that if homicide. investigators have a suspect that they. that they were on a be on lookout for. and arrested and brought back to the.

investigation room that they were smart. enough to probably read him as Miranda. Um, so that's that's probably not the. defense's lynch pin in this case, uh, would be to suppress that statement. >> Okay, we go further into this. So WDBJ. then reports that Coleman quote, knew he. was going to jail. So when we talk about. mental health later, let's keep that in. mind. Knew he was going to jail. So he. decided to kill William as well and went. looking for him. Now Coleman allegedly. told investigators that he went to.

William's home. William was gone. Turns. out he was in route to Mandy's home on. Meek's road to check on her and William. found him outside and shot him multiple. times. At least that's the allegation. That's according to the complaint. An. arrest warrant that was reviewed by ABC. 13 News says that when Coleman drove up. to the home, William came over to ask. him where Mandy was, and that's when. Coleman allegedly shot him multiple. times with his children in the vehicle. with him at the time. Now, it's unclear. what relationship William had with.

Coleman and Mandy, but investigators. confirmed that he wasn't related to. them, but didn't really provide any. further details. Based on Facebook posts. by Mandy's mom after her death, he was. apparently a family friend of some sort. So, Anthony Coleman apparently believed. Mandy was cheating, something her family. strongly denies online. Can he claim. some sort of, you know, we talk about in. the law, right, uh, of voluntary. manslaughter, right? Heed of passion.

Can he claim some sort of emotional. distress sort of defense? >> He can. I mean, he can claim and his. defense can claim whatever they want. I. think to your earlier point about his. admission, Jesse, in the case being. closed, I think the idea that there's. ever a defense of identity in this case. is sort of out the window. So, he's. probably going to have to rely on a. specific intent issue. And I think based. on the cheating allegation, I'm sure the. defense is going to explore whether it.

was heat of passion based on potential. infidelity in the relationship. So, he. can make that claim. It's something that. the defense is definitely going to want. to follow up with and investigate to see. if they can substantiate what was going. on. >> Yeah. In jurisdictions that accept the. insanity defense, I would imagine an. alleged admission. Knew he was going to. jail. That hurts insanity, right? Because the idea would be for insanity, I had no idea what I was doing was a. crime. I couldn't conform my behavior uh. to the law. You know, the classic.

example would be somebody, you know, murders somebody and then, you know, goes outside and gardens and it's like, "Oh, who are you people? Why why are the. police here?" Like that would be the. extreme example, but the idea of knew he. was going to jail, got nothing left to. lose, right? We take that argument, we. take that allegation, that would hurt a. mental health defense, right? >> Absolutely. Um I I think that would and. in addition to that, I think that his. admission that they were having an. argument and his admission that he had. accused her of infidelity is facts that.

the prosecution could lean on um to. counter any argument about insanity and. say, "No, look, Mr. Coleman had a motive. here. He incorrectly believed that she. was being unfaithful and a result of. that he lost his um you know he let his. emotions get the best of him and. murdered her. So uh I think that there. are several things that he did after the. fact that really put a wrench in the. defense's ability to argue insanity was.

at play here. >> Yeah. And I I you know it's tragic on. multiple levels, but the targeting of. Mr. I I don't quite understand that the. allegations are true and that hurts. whatever defense he would have had, whatever defense he would have had. Um, you know, with regard to the first. alleged killing. >> Yeah, it does. And I I'll be interested. I think that the defense I'm I'm sure. that they're going to want to. investigate into the relationship. between my Miss Coleman. Uh, so I think.

it'll be interesting to find out what. facts develop through that, whether it's. through text messages or. telecommunications or things like that. Um, I know he was a little bit older. than she was and I don't know that. there's any indication that they had a. romantic relationship, but it's very. interesting that Mr. Coleman saw Mr. Moral. >> and certainly not good for the defense. case. >> Right. So, less than two hours after the. 911 call came in from a neighbor about. the shooting, there was this coordinated. effort by multiple law enforcement. agencies that led to that traffic stop.

on Coleman's vehicle, his arrest. He was. transported to Henry County Adult. Detention Center, no bond, charged with. two counts of firstdegree murder, two. counts of use of a firearm in the. commission of a felony, one count of. shooting from an occupied vehicle, and. two counts of child abuse and neglect. Now, that last part there, Anthony, the. child abuse and neglect, that's the. children being there right at the scene. of the crime. >> Yes, that's my understanding at this. point. And I think that those filings.

are just they're sort of stacked in the. deck against Mr. Coleman. I imagine that. down the line, the focal point of this. prosecution is going to be on those. first-degree murder charges. Let's talk. about it because the murder charges. which our understanding are class two. felonies again we believe it carries a. minimum sentence of 20 years with a. maximum sentence of life in prison. What. would be some mitigating factors? What. would be some aggravating factors? Some. would say you know the killings of any.

individual should be a life in prison. But why are there times that even in a. case like this and yeah, we have limited. facts and a little bit limited. understanding of the circumstances um. what could potentially mitigate that if. he's convicted of these charges or. pleads guilty to these charges uh that. you know wouldn't necessarily be life in. prison. >> Well, a number of things could be. mitigating uh in a case like this, Jesse. And what's in a murder case, um, police aren't contemplating for these.

acts to occur. And so the entirety of. their investigation starts after the. murder occurs typically. And so it's. important for them to get charges filed. and to get the defendant in custody um. for the safety of the community mainly. Um, but after that point, the. investigation doesn't stop. And there's. a lot of things that investigators can. do as well as defense teams can do to. develop additional prosecution evidence. or additional mitigation evidence. And.

that's where we see search warrants for. phones and the communications between. Mr. and Miss Coleman u start to become. really important. Talking to witnesses. that knew the nature of their. relationship uh and maybe knew the. nature of Miss Coleman's relationship. with Mr. or additionally whether Miss. Coleman was having extrammarital. relations or not. These are all things. that could be mitigating. Additionally, um it's the defense I think that they. would they have to have Mr. Coleman.

evaluated for mental health concerns and. they're probably going to want to do a. deep dive into his background, which we. don't know a lot about at this point, but assuming that he's gone through. childhood trauma or things of that. nature, that's something that the. defense could present to the. prosecution. But I think their best. defense and mitigation is the threat or. possibility that a jury could come back. on involuntary manslaughter. And that's. probably the stance that they'll take. during the penalty of this case. >> Yeah. His arraignment was pushed back. from July 24th to today, actually July.

29th. And if this goes to trial, I I I. just wonder would the sheer depravity of. what he confessed to, allegedly. confessed to, how does that have an. impact on sentencing in the sense if. he's not going to fight this, okay, if. he doesn't really put up much of. defense, he immediately confessed, immediately gave prosecutors what they. needed. Could that help him in any way. or does that not negate what he. allegedly did? I.

>> I think it can help him. I think if. they're going to go for a heat of. passion argument, um, they're. essentially saying, "Look, we committed. the crime of murder, but we should be. punished under the involuntary. manslaughter sentencing range because we. acted out of passion." And so, I I I do. think it's mitigating because it it goes. to show that he's not a criminal at. heart. um and that his actions were in. response to adequate cause, which is. what the law requires in order for a.

jury to find guilty. I mean, to find. true on an issue he'd passion, that it. was a response to something that that. was adequate. So, I think that is a fact. that could go towards the defendant's. benefit. And I think the defense is sort. of stuck with that set of facts. So, they're going to have to lean into it. >> I want to read something. This is from. Henry County Sheriff Wayne Davis, uh, who released a statement about this. double homicide, saying, quote, "This is. a heartbreaking and tragic situation. that has deeply affected two families in. our entire community. Our hearts go out. to the loved ones of the victims during.

this incredibly difficult time. I want. to commend our deputies and our partner. agencies for their swift and coordinated. response, which led to the safe recovery. of the children and the apprehension of. the suspect. We are committed to seeking. justice for the victims and protecting. the innocent." Now, by the way, this is. a ongoing investigation. So, the Henry. County Sheriff's Office is asking. anybody with information to give them a. call at either the Sheriff's Office or. by calling Crimes Stoppers. What. information would be valuable uh to law.

enforcement and prosecutors here? Anthony, >> I think nature of the relationship. evidence by its leading up beforehand um. to show sort of an ongoing anything that. could go to show an ongoing violent. behavior by Mr. Coleman against Miss. Coleman is evidence that would be. admissible in a murder trial uh and. highly relevant to show the defendant's. motive in this case. >> Do they conduct uh forensic interviews. with these children? I mean, the. 10-month-old is probably very tough, but.

the other child, is that even possible. or are they just too young? >> It is possible. Um I I think I think. that they're selective when they do it. Um I'm not certain of the age of the. older child. I don't think any child. really under the age of five or six is. is someone that would be able to provide. a lot of evidence about the nature of. their parents' relationship. Um, and you. also have competency issues when a child. of of a really young age goes to. testify. So, uh, but you do see forensic.

interviews for young children. And I. think that would be important here. because any any fighting about. infidelity uh prior to the date in. question is going to really attack the. sudden passion, the suddeness that's. required in a in a sudden passion. >> By the way, how many cases have you seen. where it's cheating or allegations of. cheating or beliefs in cheating, valid.

or not? How how many times have you seen. infidelity being a motivating factor for. violence? >> It's. a lot. That's the only way to put it. It's it's a huge driving force in. domestic violence situations. And and I. think the bigger. key that you stated earlier, a key point. is belief of infidelity. It's not even. actual infidelity, but you see often. times insecurity in one of the partners,

often times a man, and that that. insecurity leads to accusations, and. accusations lead to violence, and we see. it all the time. >> And and you take the allegations as. true. It's so heartbreaking to think. that my uh was just trying to check up. on her, right? And was caught in the. wrong place. That happens, too, right? people who try to do the right thing in. domestic violence situations get caught. up in it uh one way or another. Um and. again still still trying to figure out. exactly what uh his role is in all of.

this. But it's just another element of. it that's really really uh distressing. Um Anthony Oso, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really really. appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].