BANGOR, Maine — A jury of five women and seven men began deliberating about 5:55 p.m. Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center on the 10th day of the trial of Keith Coleman, who is accused of strangling his girlfriend and then killing her children in December 2014.
Jurors sent out a note about 8 p.m. asking to recess overnight. They will resume deliberations at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Coleman, 29, of Garland is charged with three counts of intentional or knowing murder in the Dec. 20, 2014, deaths of Christina Sargent, 36, and her children, 8-year-old Destiny Sargent and 10-year-old Duwayne Coke. Coleman also is charged with one count of gross sexual assault on the girl.
He was arrested Dec. 21, 2014, in Bucksport after the friends he was staying with learned he was wanted by police. Detectives with the Maine State Police interviewed him that night at their Bangor offices, when he allegedly confessed.
Last week, jurors watched a portion Coleman’s more than four-hour interview with Maine State Police detectives Greg Mitchell and Thomas Pickering, who pressed Coleman to tell them what happened at the trailer he shared with Christina Sargent and her children. Coleman broke down and, although it was difficult at times to understand what he was saying, the prosecution claimed that he confessed to the slayings.
“I did it,” Coleman replied, sobbing. “I did it. I don’t want to say that word but … I did it. I killed my girl.”
“When you say you killed [my] girl, who did you kill?” Mitchell asked.
“Chrissie and the kids,” Coleman said.
Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea, who prosecuted the case, told jurors that Coleman’s confession, along with DNA and semen belonging to Coleman found at the scene, proved Coleman committed the crimes.
She also pointed to a Facebook message he sent to a friend about 2:51 p.m. Dec. 20, 2014, that said: “I need any help possible. On the run for capital murder. Could you send me anything to get me to the hood” as proof that Coleman admitted his guilt.
The bodies weren’t discovered until about 10 p.m. that night, Zainea said.
Defense attorney Martha Harris of Bangor told jurors that the state had not proven Coleman guilty, pointing to the unidentified DNA of at least two people found at the crime scene.
“It’s Iikely that at least two people committed these acts,” she said. “Why would the kids not scream or cry out or run outside to neighbors’ house for help? It takes time to strangle someone.”
Harris also said that when the detectives interviewed Coleman, he was “tired and shocked and the detectives suggested what they wanted him to say.”
The defense team tried to point to Coleman’s former girlfriend, Amanda Ellis, who is Sargent’s first cousin, as an alternative suspect. Ellis, 31, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, has a daughter with Coleman.
She testified Tuesday morning that she and Coleman broke up in early 2013 but earlier in their relationship she “harassed him into choking” her but did not report the incident to police.
Ellis told the jury that she resumed contact with Coleman in early 2015 and has spoken with him almost daily during his incarceration. She said that family members speculated that Sargent killed her children and when Coleman found them dead, he strangled their mother.
When she asked Coleman about that scenario, he responded, “Ding. Ding. Ding,” she testified. Ellis told jurors she interpreted that as confirmation that that was what happened.
“I just couldn’t picture him hurting a child,” a weeping Ellis said. “I just can’t fathom that at all.”
Harris described Coleman as the primary caregiver for the children who did the shopping, cooking, cleaning and picked them up at school more often than their mother did.
In her final statement to the jury, Zainea dismissed the defense’s efforts to steer jurors to another perpetrator.
“Either the defendant is the unluckiest man alive or he’s the guiltiest,” she said.
The trial began Oct. 26 but took Nov. 2 off so the defense could prepare an expert DNA witness.
If convicted, Coleman faces between 25 years and life in prison on the murder charges and up to 30 years in prison on the sexual assault charge. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a defendant convicted on multiple counts of murder may be sentenced to life in prison.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.