DALLAS, Ga. (Court TV) — A Georgia woman is standing trial on charges that she killed her husband by shooting him in their home, but her defense says the victim took his own life.
Lacy Jolee Boles, 43, has pleaded not guilty to malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault in the death of her husband, Daniel Akers, 36.
Lacy Jolee Boles listens to opening statements in her trial on Nov. 11, 2026. (Court TV)
In his opening statement to the jury on Wednesday, prosecutor Jason Treadaway described the relationship between the defendant and victim as volatile. “They loved hard and they fought hard,” he said. “It was up and it was great, but when it was down, it was as low as it gets, as bad as it gets.”
Treadaway said that at the time of the shooting, the victim and defendant had been arguing about money. Akers, who worked for a sheet metal union, was leaving one job and about to begin another, and money was tight heading into the holidays; Boles was a stay-at-home mother. Boles told police after her husband’s death that on Dec. 21, 2019, the couple’s argument turned physical and she said Akers pushed her up against the wall, choking her and taking her phone away.
After the argument, Akers left the house and went to a bar. He left the bar, stopped at McDonald’s on his way home, and returned to the property he shared with Boles just after midnight on the morning of Dec. 22. “The first thing Dan Akers encounters when he goes up and goes in the door, he encounters a booby trap. Set by her,” Treadaway said, pointing at Boles in the courtroom. “She took a Swiffer mop, these Swiffers you clean the floor with, and set it up against the door real carefully, gingerly, so that when he came home, and this is a guy that lives here, she sets up this trap so that when he opens the door it’s going to knock over this mop and let her know that he’s back.”
Boles’ attorney, Brian Steel, agreed that his client had set up the mop as a warning system to alert her when Akers arrived home. Steel explained that Boles had texted her husband instructions not to come home, saying she planned to file for divorce, and placed the Swiffer in front of the door so she would know if he came home anyway.
Treadaway told the jury that after arriving home, Akers brought the bag of McDonald’s inside. “This defendant, this person right here, she comes up to him. He turns around. Faces her. Boom. She shoots him in the face with a .22 caliber pistol that her father gave to her,” he said. “One shot. Over. Why? Because that’s all that was needed. Ambushed, executed in his own basement.”
Steel told the jury an entirely different story: Boles saw her husband go downstairs and followed him to speak to him, but as she approached, she saw that he had a gun in his left hand. Boles said he had the gun pointed at his mouth and told her, “You can’t help me, no one can help me.” Steel said his client panicked and lunged for Akers’ arm. He took a step back, they tussled for the gun, and it fired.
The bullet went into Akers’ left nostril and into his brain.
Treadaway and detectives latched onto Boles’ statement that Akers was holding the gun in his left hand, because the defendant also told investigators that her husband was right-handed. The gun was found on the ground near his right hand, leading Treadaway to accuse Boles of attempting to stage the scene.
“Why would she stage a gun on the left side and tell the police he’s a righty if she’s staging everything?” Steel asked. “Everything you’re hearing in the opening statement, we will address everything.”
While Treadaway described Akers as a happy man looking forward to the upcoming baseball season with his young son, Steel said the man was broke, facing a furlough from work and also facing a return to prison for violating his parole. Conceding that a gunshot through the nose is “very, very bizarre,” Steel urged the jury to consider the full picture before returning a verdict at the close of the case.
Boles was initially scheduled to stand trial this summer, but jury selection was postponed after a prospective juror researched the case online and then shared information with others on the panel awaiting voir dire. Steel, who represents Boles, has represented high-profile clients in trials previously covered by Court TV, including the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and rapper Young Thug.
