Murder trial begins for man accused in killing of Park Layne woman

He appeared in court on Monday for the selection of the jury and opening statements from his legal defense and the Clark County Prosecutor’s office.

Jacqueline Coles, 43, was found dead on Aug. 24 last year in the Weinland Street home she once shared with Coles Jr.

Assistant prosecutor Erica Lunderman told the jury on Monday that Jacqueline Coles did “everything she could to protect herself” after her separation: she changed the locks in the house, filed for a protection order and bought a firearm.

Jacqueline Coles filed a petition on Aug. 5, 2021, for an order of protection against her estranged husband for herself and three children, court records state.

She stated in her protection order petition that Noel Coles Jr. had threatened to kill her “multiple times.” She cited an incident when he was at her residence “to talk” in her backyard and covered her mouth to muffle her screams. She said her teenage son walked outside and saw it happen.

Coles Jr. is accused of breaking into the house while Jacqueline Coles was on the phone with a co-worker. Lunderman said she was shot six times.

“Not only did the defendant murder Jacqueline, but then he left her home and left her body there with the possibility for her children to find her,” Lunderman said.

Lunderman told the jury they’d hear from multiple witnesses over the next few days, including Jacqueline’s son, the man who was on the phone with Jacqueline the morning she died and detectives from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Jurors also will hear from forensics analysts, who will discuss the defendant’s DNA that was found at the scene and on Jacqueline’s phone the morning of her murder, as well as testimony from intelligence analysts, who will discuss threatening messages Jacqueline received from a pre-paid phone before her death.

Noel Coles Jr.’s attorney, Matthew Barbato, told the jury that there were “good times and not so good times.” Barbato said Noel Coles Jr. was angry about Jacqueline’s alleged relationship with a coworker and “said things out of anger,” which was recorded unbeknownst to Coles.

Noel Coles Jr. told deputies on Aug. 24 that he was in the area of Weinland Street in the morning to watch his kids board their school bus. The following day, he was arrested in Hancock County, Indiana. Clark County Sheriff’s deputies returned Coles to Ohio.

Barbato said Noel Coles Jr. was not fleeing the area at the time; rather, he was helping a friend deliver a husky to someone in California.

Judge Douglas Rastatter said he anticipates the trial will last a few days this week.

Jacqueline Coles was the director of nursing at Laurelwood Assisted Living in Dayton.