ALBANY, Ga. (Court TV) — A woman will stand trial for a third time on charges she murdered her husband.
Susan Embert is charged in the shooting death of her husband. (Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office)
Susan Embert is charged with murder in the death of her husband, William “Jake” Embert, who was shot to death on June 28, 2014. Susan has maintained her innocence and has claimed that the victim pulled the trigger and killed himself.
Susan was first tried in December 2019, when a jury found her guilty of all charges, which included malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. She was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 30 years, to be followed by a sentence of 15 years.
Three years after Susan’s first trial, she was granted a new trial after her post-conviction attorney discovered that one of the jurors who convicted her was a convict himself and thus ineligible to serve on a jury.
Susan’s second murder trial began on Dec. 3, 2025, but a judge was forced to declare a mistrial after the first day of testimony. The coroner, testifying for the prosecution, said that “antifreeze” made him change his ruling on the case from suicide to homicide. That single word was enough for a mistrial after the judge agreed with the defense that it was “an explicit reference to inadmissible and highly prejudicial evidence” that had already been excluded.
“The crux of this case is whether Jake Embert or Defendant pulled the trigger,” Susan’s attorney wrote in the motion for a mistrial. “There is no eyewitness to Jake Embert’s death. There has been no confession from Defendant. There are dueling theories from the proffered experts.”
The retrial, initially scheduled to begin on Dec. 8, has been postponed indefinitely.
Susan faces a potential life sentence if convicted of murder.
