Georgia man who fatally shot wife of 55 years sentenced to life in prison
A Villa Rica man who admitted to shooting his longtime wife in 2022 was sentenced to prison, officials announced Friday.
Donald Staley pleaded guilty to malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault April 19 in the death of Judith Staley. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Staley, who was 80 years old at the time of the attack, admitted to authorities during interviews that he shot his wife and expressed no remorse for doing so, according to Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford.
On June 30, 2022, officials said Staley bought a revolver, drove home, placed a pillow over his wife’s head and shot her. He then called 911 and said he had shot his wife and was going to shoot himself, Cranford added.
Carroll County deputies and Georgia State Patrol troopers responded to a home in the Fairfield Plantation golf and lake community and took Staley into custody. Judith Staley was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she died, the Carroll sheriff’s office previously said.
The Staleys had been married for 55 years. Cranford did not provide a motive in the incident.
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