A man convicted of the 2009 murders of his wife and two sons will get an evidentiary hearing in his fight for a new trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Chris Coleman was convicted in 2011 of strangling his family, and he’s serving three life terms in prison. Prosecutors say he wanted to leave his wife for another woman.
In Monroe County Court Tuesday, his attorney, Lloyd Cueto, argued his trial lawyers were ineffective.
A key piece of Cueto’s argument hinged on metadata from several photos of Coleman and his lover presented at trial.
Detectives testified Tuesday that in preparation for trial, on the back of each photo, they taped the date and time of when the photo was taken and on which device they found it.
But Coleman’s attorney pointed out that a few of the dates and times are the same, when it’s clear from the nature of the photos they weren’t taken at the same time.
Cueto called it “wildly improper,” and multiple witnesses stated Coleman’s trial defense never questioned the metadata.
Judge Stephen McGlynn granted an evidentiary hearing to examine whether Coleman’s previous attorneys were ineffective.
“It’s a very serious crime, and I want to make sure the jury got it correct,” McGlynn said.
The hearing has not yet been scheduled.