WATCH LIVE: James Colley double murder trial
PHOTO GALLERY: Who is who in the Colley double murder case?
Day 1 of the James Colley Trial came to a close around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday after opening statements were heard from the state and defense attorney teams, followed by prosecution calling 8 witnesses to the stand to give their testimony.
James Colley is accused of killing his estranged wife Amanda Colley, and her friend Lindy Dobbins in Murabella in St. Johns County on Aug. 27, 2015.
Action News Jax Courtney Cole spent the day in the courtroom. She heard powerful testimony from a woman and a man who survived the deadly double slaying.
Rachel Hendricks, Amanda Colley’s friend, was the first to be called to the stand.
When she was asked, by the prosecuting attorney, to point out Colley in the courtroom -- she took an emotional pause, described what he was wearing and went on tell how she made it out alive.
Hendricks said their mutual friend, Lindy Dobbins, called her the morning of Aug. 27, 2015, to tell her something was going on at Amanda Colley’s house.
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"I walked inside to Amanda and Lindy. Amanda was crying, gave her a big hug, told her it would be OK,” Hendricks told the courtroom.
Before the killings, the prosecuting attorney said James Colley came into Amanda’s home and found sex toys, which upset him and led him to destroy her house.
Hendricks said she saw clothes scattered about, broken TVs, and garbage cans toppled over.
Hendricks said she was standing in the living room when she heard a loud bang and glass shatter.
“I looked into backyard and saw Mr. Colley with a handgun, shooting into the living room.”
Hendricks says she ran into a closet with Dobbins to hide.
She told the courtroom Amanda ran into the bathroom.
Once James Colley made it inside the home, Hendricks says he confronted Amanda.
“Mr. Colley was wanting to know where is he? where is he? Where the F*** is he?”
The "he" James Colley was referring to is Lamar Douberly, the man Amanda Colley was seeing.
Hendricks said Amanda repeatedly told James he wasn’t in the house.
Douberly was able to escape through the garage.
Hendricks says after she saw James Colley point at gun at Amanda's head, she ran to a neighbor's home to hide.
At the time of their relationship, Douberly said he was aware Amanda was going through a divorce with James.
Douberly said was also separated from his wife (however, he notes not legally separated), while he was in a relationship with Amanda.
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He told the court their relationship began in April 2015 and became intimate in June 2015.
That's why he was there with Amanda on August 27, when James Colley made numerous calls to her on the day of the killings.
Douberly says she didn’t answer all of the calls. He said the calls went on until at least 5 or 6 a.m. on Aug. 27.
Douberly says he was at Amanda Colley’s house to comfort her, after she told him James Colley ruined her home.
He said Amanda was visibly upset, he thinks she was scared.
Cox Media Group
