James Colley trial: 10 things we have learned so far

REPORT: Colley laughed about killings, cellmate says

The James Colley double murder trial is in its second week in St. Johns County.

The murders of Amanda Cloaninger Colley and Lindy Dobbins on a quiet Thursday on Aug. 27, 2015 rocked the Murabella subdivision near World Golf Village and left five children without their mother.

Colley faces two counts of first-degree murder, and the state has said it will seek the death penalty if convicted.

Here's 10 things that were revealed in the first week of the trial: 

1. James Colley texted Amanda right before the murders: "Lets just speed this divorce up and get this over with."  

The Colleys were going through a divorce, and Amanda Colley had filed an injunction against Colley, claiming he was violent.

On Tuesday, the defense introduced text messages that said James texted Amanda, "Good night, I love you."

2. Amanda Colley texted James, "You have seriously lost it." 

Amanda Colley was already dating another man at the time of the murders. That man, Lamar Douberly, narrowly escaped the shooting and testified last week.

Douberly testified that he was at the home on the day of the murders to comfort Amanda.

DOCUMENTS: Two barely escape Murabella house where murders occurred 

3. The state says that Colley trashed his marital home before the murders. 

Prosecutors said that Colley wasn't supposed to be within 500 feet of the Bellagio Drive home he formerly shared with Amanda and their children. He also was not be seen near Amanda's workplace.

Colley was at the home in the middle of the night before the murders, the state says. He was inside the house and found sex toys, which led him to destroy TVs and damage other property in the house, prosecutors said. 

4. After the murders, Colley was seen on video driving a maroon Infiniti on County Road 210. 

The car belonged to Colley's sister Ronda, who testified on Tuesday.

After the murders, Colley was arrested in Virginia -- 10 hours from Jacksonville -- driving the maroon Inifiniti. Guns were found in the car.

5. Three years after the murders, Colley is still close with his sister. 

Colley has been held without bail in the St. Johns County Jail for nearly three years. She says she still talks to him several times a day.

6.  Colley reportedly sent texts saying his wife was "the worst person on Earth" and "She will pay." 

Before the murders, the defense says Colley also sent texts to Amanda, telling her he loved her.

7. After the murders, Colley reportedly tossed his cell phone into a street in the South Hampton subdivison, where he was living with his sister. 

A neighbor of Colley's sister testified that he found the phone while riding his bike in the neighborhood that morning. The phone started ringing right after he found it, he said.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office quickly tracked it. The man who found it had no idea it belonged to an accused murderer.

"What I thought was just a lost phone, the SWAT team was there to greet [and] meet," the neighbor said. "After my initial panic, I handed them -- very quickly -- the phone."

8. Colley was already dating another woman he met at work. She said they had discussed marriage. 

Amy Mason, Colley's coworker at CitiBank, was also a parent. They had begun dating shortly before the murders, she said, and he had texted her "I love you."

9. Mason and Colley were planning to spend the weekend together. 

The murders occurred on a Thursday morning. Mason testified that had plans with Colley to attend a wedding together that weekend. They were also going to introduce their kids to each other, Mason said.

10. The prosecution presented their case in just under three days. The defense's case lasted only 90 minutes. 

The defense initially planned to claim that Colley was under the influence of Ambien — and other drugs — during the killings, but they abandoned that strategy and instead called a detective, two of his family members and his sister's housekeeper.

Cox Media Group