Court denies appeal in airman stabbing murder conviction

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - The conviction of a Caddo Parish woman serving life in prison for the second degree murder of a Barksdale airman has been upheld by a state appeals court.

26-year-old Kimethia Coleman was convicted in May of 2012 for the 2010 stabbing death of her 29-year-old boyfriend, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Brian Spinks.

Coleman had initially claimed that an unidentified black male had come in to their Quail Creek apartment and stabbed the Spinks, but prosecutors convinced the jury that it was Coleman that stabbed Spinks more than 60 times and slit his throat during a domestic dispute.

Coleman's attorneys appealed her conviction to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that her statement to police should not have been allowed into evidence because she claims she did not give it freely and voluntarily.

She also argued that her statements to her mother should not have been admitted because of the expectation of privacy while in the detective's office, not knowing that a call she made to her mother during which incriminating statements were made was being monitored.

Among other things, the appeals court rejected Coleman's claim that the statements made in that phone call to her mother should have been protected under the Louisiana Electronic Surveillance act, pointing out that Louisiana courts have long upheld that a defendant may not raise new grounds for suppressing evidence on appeal that were not raised in the trial court for a motion to suppress.

Coleman will continue to serve a life sentence without benefit of probation or parole.

Click here to read the court's response to Coleman's appeal.

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