LINCOLN, Ill. (Court TV) — After the first trial against 24-year-old Cierra Coker ended in a mistrial, the alleged child killer is set to take her case before a new jury.
According to local ABC affiliate WICS/WRSP and local Fox affiliate WCCU, jury selection wrapped up on Tuesday and the prosecution and defense delivered opening statements. Coker is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 19-month-old Sophia Davis, who was the daughter of Coker’s then-boyfriend. Sophia died on Feb. 8, 2022, while in Coker’s care.
Cierra Coker (far left) in court (WRSP/WCCU).
On Tuesday, jurors heard the two-minute 911 call that Coker placed on Feb. 5, 2022, after finding Sophia unresponsive. Coker told dispatchers, “She’s awake but barely breathing. Her head is tilted like she’s dying. I don’t know what’s going on. Her mouth is bleeding.”
The prosecution’s first witness was Cory Sizemore, the EMT who arrived at the home Sophia’s father shared with Coker in Lincoln, Illinois. Sizemore told the jury that the little girl was lifeless and her lips were blue.
Sophia was brought to HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield and died on Feb. 8, 2022. An autopsy determined that she died of blunt force trauma.
Logan County State’s Attorney Bradley Hauge told the jury during his opening statement that Coker allegedly beat the little girl to death after she bit Coker’s finger. Hauge said Coker became “angry” and took Sophia to “another bedroom and when she brings her back, she’s bleeding from the mouth.”
Coker’s defense attorney Mark Wykoff told the jury that medical experts would provide a different story about what really killed Sophia, and that jurors would face a “50/50 coin flip” on which doctor they believed.
Coker went on trial in August 2025 for the same charges, but it ended in a mistrial when jurors could not come to a unanimous decision after nine hours of deliberation. One juror reportedly refused to change their mind.
