A Walton County woman convicted in her husband’s death and serving a life sentence has been granted a new trial, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled this week.
Linda Agee was convicted of murder in 2015, 23 years after Randy Peters was found shot to death in the couple’s home. Agee appealed her conviction in 2018 and her lawyer argued that statements given to police by her former lover should not have been admissible during her trial. That’s because Jeff Sargent, who Agee married after her first husband’s death, died in 2006.
“They were essentially an implicit admission of guilt, providing the most direct evidence that Sargent was involved in Peters’ murder,” the Supreme Court wrote in its ruling. “These statements also cast a large shadow of suspicion over Agee, given her close association with Sargent at the time of the killing and their eventual marriage. Indeed, in its closing argument, the prosecution heavily emphasized Sargent’s statements about his receiving life in prison or the death penalty if he told police what he knew about the murder.”
Agee and Peters had been high school sweethearts who married at 18 and later had twin daughters and ran a produce business.
When Peters was shot to death in his Walton home, his wife emerged as a prime suspect. So did Sargent.
“If I tell you what I know, if I tell you why I was there, I will either get life in prison or the electric chair,” Sargent told authorities during the early investigation.
Sargent was served with a subpoena to testify before a grand jury, but the day before he was set to appear he did something that gave him an out: He married Agee. Georgia law protects spouses from being forced to provide evidence against each other.
Layla Zon, who prosecuted Agee, argued that the couple married to protect Sargent. Zon is now an Alcovy Circuit Superior Court judge.
Because Sargent died, Agee’s defense team could not cross-examine him during the trial.
“The state replied upon it in opening and closing arguments,” Agee’s attorney, Bruce Harvey, told the court during a July 2018 appeal hearing. “Without that evidence, there wouldn’t have been a case.”
Agee’s request for a retrial was denied by the trial judge. She then appealed to the Supreme Court.
