Lacoochee man convicted of attempted 2nd-degree murder, kidnapping

Joseph Coleman is likely headed to prison for life.

A jury today convicted the 56-year Lacoochee man of attempted second-degree murder and kidnapping in the 2006 shooting of his then-estranged wife, Sylvia Grant.

Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa will sentence Coleman on Dec. 3.

Grant and Coleman married in 2002 but their relationship was marred by violence. The two had separated by May 2006, with Grant moving in with family on Stewart Road and Coleman living on Wormack Road.

Grant, 36, testified Tuesday that she took her children to school at Lacoochee Elementary on the morning of May 2, 2006. On the way, she saw Coleman standing beside the street and attempting to flag her down.

Grant didn't stop. After dropping her kids off, she returned home to do chores around the house.

That's when she heard a knock at the door. Grant testified that she looked through the peep hole and saw Coleman standing on her porch.

She didn't open the door but Coleman busted through it and grabbed her in a jealous rage. Coleman believed Grant had started seeing someone else. The two have since divorced.

Coleman pulled a gun from under his shirt and got on top of Grant. She testified that Coleman told her, "You think my family wasn't going to tell me who you were sleeping with?"
She said he tried to force the weapon into her mouth but she wouldn't let him. Shots rang out.

Suddenly, Grant was having trouble breathing and her right arm went numb. She had been shot in the neck and in the shoulder.

Grant testified that she begged Coleman to take her to a nearby fire station for help. She had no cell phone or home phone. She said Coleman resisted, afraid she would tell authorities who shot her.

Grant said Coleman told her he planned to drive her around until she passed out and died. She said he put her into her van at gunpoint, drove her to U.S. 301 and turned north. When they came to Trilby Road, Coleman turned west, away from the fire station.

Grant testified that she decided her only hope was to jump from the moving van. She exited the vehicle at U.S. 301 and Trilby, jumped up and "took off running" across U.S. 301 and toward the fire station.

She lost steam at a telephone company building before she got to the fire station. Steve Vickers, a phone company employee, happened to be outside and saw Grant.

"She was covered with blood from head to toe," Vickers testified this week.

Vickers said he put Grant into his truck and drove her to the fire station. She kept saying, "Help me, help me."

Paramedics stabilized Grant and she was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.