San Diego Criminal Attorneys Blog
An interesting series of events leading up to a murder occurred last year around September 24, but the man at fault was just convicted of second degree murder on Friday. Jeret Thomas Needham, 43, started an altercation with a man he has just hired as a temporary assistant to help with wrestling coaching at Madison High School. The victim, Robert Colegrove, apparently refused to get out of a chair when Needham wanted him to and it drove him to ridiculous lengths; committing murder. After Colegrove wouldn’t get out of the chair, Needham exited the premises and on his way out was heard muttering over and over again “shouldn’t have done that.” Later in the day, he returned with a gun and camped out behind Colegrove’s backyard fence. According to Needham, Colegrove saw him behind the fence and was walking toward him with a knife saying “I’m going to kill you.” Needham fired his handgun and fatally shot Colegrove once in the heart. Needham, the former Madison High School wrestling coach, had his lawyers claiming it was self defense, but the jury didn’t quite buy it; they did, however, lower it to second degree murder verus first degree murder.
Sources:
“Wrestling Coach Convicted Of Second-Degree Murder” – San Diego 6, The CW