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CANTON, Ga. (TCD) — A 71-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally shooting his 63-year-old wife and staging it as self-defense.
District Attorney Susan Treadaway announced Feb. 2 that a judge sentenced Charles Collins to life in prison plus five years after a jury convicted him late last month of malice murder, felony murder, family violence aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for the death of Deborah Collins.
On July 24, 2023, shortly after 2 a.m., Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a home off New Light Road, where they found Collins with a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver. According to the district attorney’s office, police discovered the defendant’s wife dead on the living room floor from a gunshot wound to her neck. She also reportedly had a knife in her right hand.
In an interview, Collins told detectives his wife threatened him with the knife, so he shot her in self-defense. However, the district attorney’s office said the knife and other objects near the victim’s body were not covered in blood. Additionally, a latent print processing expert with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was unable to detect fingerprints on the knife.
Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe said, “To the untrained eye, this crime scene could have appeared to be an open and shut case of self-defense.”
Ashe continued, “They picked up on the obvious signs of staging, indicating the knife was not in Deborah’s hand when she was shot.”
According to the district attorney’s office, following the shooting, Collins failed to render aid and call law enforcement. Instead, he reportedly “called his son and told him he ‘shot that b–ch.'”
In a statement, Treadaway said, “By the conclusion of this trial, it was clear to the jury that this man was acting out of anger when he killed his wife, not fear. He refused to help her and just left her there to die.”
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