An elderly Cherokee County man is facing a life behind bars for the murder of his wife. Charles Terry Collins, 71, was dealt a life sentence plus an additional five years after a jury convicted him of several charges including malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. This verdict came as a result of an incident in July 2023 where Collins shot his wife, Deborah Sherry Collins, 63, and attempted to disguise the crime as self-defense.
Investigators arrived at the couple's Canton home to find the husband with a gun and his wife deceased, a knife in her hand posing a grim tableau. According to WSBTV, Collins claimed self-defense after his wife allegedly attacked him with the knife. However, Cherokee District Attorney's office's Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe noted that the crime scene "appeared to be an open and shut case of self-defense" to someone without a trained eye. But authorities discovered that there were no discernable fingerprints on the knife and the staging indicated that it was not in the victim's hand when she was shot, undermining Collins' self-defense claim.
The case took a morbid turn when it was revealed that following the shooting, Collins called his son rather than emergency services, uttering, “I shot that b----.” As obtained by Atlanta News First, Ashe referred to the call as "shocking." During the trial, the prosecution presented over 300 pieces of evidence and called 15 witnesses to testify against Collins.
A sentencing of life plus five years was bestowed upon Collins last Friday. The trial, which saw 15 witnesses stand and the array of evidence, lasted until the jury deliberated for around three hours before they decided the man's fate. “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,” District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway told WSBTV.
