ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - [UPDATE: Dec. 5, 10:37 a.m.:] Dougherty County Judge Victoria Johnson granted a new trial in the Jake Embert murder case Friday morning. Jury selection for the new trial will begin on Monday, Dec. 8, she said.

“Today, the family is obviously disappointed. This is one of many setbacks that’s occurred since 2014 in this case,” Lee Wilson, Investigator for Embert family, said. “However they are resolute in standing as long as it takes to make sure there is justice for Jake.”

Friday morning, Dec. 5, the defense asked for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning Susan Embert would have walked free, and no other trial would have been brought about. In their arguments, they stated Embert’s Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights were violated when Dougherty County Coroner, Michael Fowler, mentioned an expert’s findings about “antifreeze” that were excluded from this trial.

“There’s certainly nothing the family feels the judge did improper. In fact, we all understand,” Wilson said. “This case assuming a conviction, which we believe will happen, will go up on appeal, and we don’t want to ever have to retry it again because of an error that was made during the trial. So being overly cautious is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s two extra days and we’ve been here since 2014.”

However, the state argued that him mentioning the word “antifreeze” had no context for the jury. Judge Johnson says she doesn’t feel the coroner mentioned the excluded testimony intentionally, however, she does believe the trial needs to start over with a new jury.

“After hearing both sides of the case and listening intently to both the state and the defense, I am going to grant the motion for new trial without prejudice,” Judge Johnson said.

Susan was found guilty of staging her husband, Jake Embert’s, death in December of 2019. Two months later she was sentenced to life in prison.

In February 2024, her case was dismissed, and in May of that same year she was released from prison.

In June 2025 a Georgia Supreme Court judge reversed the dismissal, and in August 2025 Susan was back behind bars.

Now, more than 200 potential jurors will be examined in small panels starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Dougherty county courthouse.

WALB will provide updates as we learn more.

[ORIGINAL STORY:] Dougherty County Judge Victoria Johnson is expected to announce next steps in the Susan Embert trial Friday after a motion for mistrial.

Susan Embert is in her second murder trial in the shooting death of her husband, Jake Embert.

|PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Susan Embert trial|

Wednesday, Dec. 3, while Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler was on the stand, he mentioned an expert’s findings that were excluded from this trial but allowed in Susan Embert’s first trial.

“I would still stand on what I did on that part, a gunshot to the head. Now, for the information I received with the hearsay, the antifreeze —,” Coroner Fowler said.

The defense immediately objected and cut off Fowler’s testimony when he mentioned the word “antifreeze” while speaking about Jake Embert’s death.

|REAL-TIME TRIAL UPDATES|

Thursday, Dec. 4, WALB sat down with Attorney Christopher Cohilas who said, in fact, what happened on the stand occurs more than people realize.

“What were faced with right now is the judge is going to have to make one of three decisions,” Cohilas said. “One: Was the testimony so bad and so unfair that it damaged Ms. Embert’s right to a fair trial? Or is it something that could be fixed?”

Judge Johnson said she wants to hear arguments from both sides before choosing between a mistrial with prejudice, which would mean the trial is over, and Susan Embert could not be tried again.

She could also rule a mistrial without prejudice. Meaning there would be a new trial, with a new jury. Or, the trial could continue with Coroner Fowler’s comment struck from the record.

“The defense is doing what it absolutely should be doing, they should be making a motion for mistrial. The state is doing absolutely what it should be doing which is saying there was no prejudicial impact, the testimony was cut off, none of the expert testimony was actually presented to the jury, so technically there was no violation,” Cohilas said. “Both sides are doing exactly what they should be doing, and the judge has demonstrated that she is doing exactly what she should be doing which is considering both sides equally, fairly and carefully.”

WALB will provide updates as we learn more. Stay with us.

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