In a surprising turn, Allen has consistently denied any involvement in the killings. Instead, he and his legal team have directed suspicion towards his grandfather, Bill Cole. Allen testified that he witnessed Bill Cole committing the murders with a hammer and expressed fear for his own safety at the hands of his grandfather.
The prosecution has continually returned to a confession that Allen gave to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) in April 2022, in which he told investigators that he had killed Jessie Allen and Sherry Cole.
Allen testified on Thursday that he lied and gave a false confession, believing authorities would release him later when they determined he was not the culprit.
“Did the fact that you were made to play with your baby brother, did that cause you to hate him?” asked Allen’s public defender, Todd Estep.
“No,” Allen said.
“The fact that you didn’t really have any freedom did that. Did that make you hate Sherry or Bill?”
“No.”
Under cross-examination, Allen recounted to prosecutors that he left the home on Old Snapps Ferry Road after the murders to go to a friend’s home, then decided to go to a Little Caesars restaurant, and later a Walmart. When asked by the prosecution why he did not tell anyone at those places about the murders, he responded that he was in shock.
“In this plot…you say you devised this fact that you thought about it all day. That was your great escape plan to go to Little Caesars and Walmart. Is that what you thought about all day?” asked lead prosecutor Cecil Mills.
“No,” Allen replied.
The prosecution also pointed out that he said a hammer and boots would be found in his room.
“Were you guessing what they were going to find in your room?”
“Yes,” replied Allen.
“When you guessed they were going to find a hammer, that was just a guess? You didn’t know the hammer was in your room?”
“No,” said Allen.
Allen did tell the court that he had never seen Bill Cole physically harm either victim, nor had he ever laid a hand on Allen himself; however, he claimed that his grandfather did at some times raise his voice.
The prosecution continued to press Allen about details that he gave to authorities in his alleged false confession that matched evidence found in the case, such as Allen telling investigators that they would likely find a hammer used in the murders in his room. The defense argued that there was a lack of DNA evidence to prove Allen had committed the murders and that the investigation had not properly looked into Bill Cole as an equal suspect to Allen.
Allen denied multiple times killing his brother and grandmother while on the stand.
“Do you remember saying in your second statement I’d rather kill myself than do something to my little brother because he’s had a pretty rough life?” Allen’s public defender asked him in his testimony.
Allen responded “Absolutely,” to which lead prosecutor Cecil Mills notes Allen “confessed to killing him in the next statement.”
Before Allen took the stand, jurors heard a deposition from the medical examiner who performed Jessie Allen and Sherry Cole’s autopsies.
Jessie Allen’s autopsy revealed that one side of his head was completely caved in. He suffered multiple lacerations on his forehead and scalp as well as multiple skull fractures.
Jessie Allen’s reported cause of death was from blunt force trauma to the head; however, the medical examiner could not determine which hit killed him, saying “they’re all fatal.”
Sherry Cole’s cause of death was also blunt force trauma to the head, and she suffered brain bruising as well as lacerations on the top of the head.
Multiple apparent stab wounds were found on the back of her neck, the medical examiner determining she was still alive at the time of one stab wound due to the scarring pattern.
The weapons used in their deaths could not be determined, nor could the order of the deaths.
The defense called multiple witnesses aside from Allen for their case, including a former TBI agent, a psychologist specializing in false confessions, and the cellmate Allen alleged confessed to while he was in the Greene County Detention Center.
In the prosecution’s closing argument, they told jurors that Bill Cole had no reason to kill his wife of 44 years or his grandson, whom he had essentially raised. They also noted that another witness, Sherry Cole’s brother, reported he had never seen Bill Cole lose his temper.
“Members of the jury, I have stood in this spot now countless times and I’ve done this, and I’ve always felt like I had the right thing to say,” said Richie Collins with the prosecution. “This particular [case], I’ve dreaded this one for four years.”
“How do you bring justice to Sherry and Jesse? There is no justice for them. Justice would be Jesse getting to graduate, getting to ride that four wheeler, tromping around on those muck boots through the creek. Just growing up. Justice for Sherry would getting to see just that. Maybe you can find justice for a brother like Rick Williams. Maybe find justice for Bill Cole if you think Bill’s worthy of such justice.”
The defense, however, told jurors in their closing argument that the hammer and boots found in Jordan Allen’s bedroom were planted by Cole. They added that Cole could have changed his clothing and shoes just as fast as Allen could have.
“You’ve got a scared kid and a guilt-ridden grandfather,” Estep said. “We’ve got law enforcement that go to a scene, as we all asked into in the middle of the night to do a difficult job to keep people safe. And when Gerald Ray went to that scene, he had every intention. And I submit to you fully believe to do a by the book investigation. He knew there was somebody better to him to interrogate this child.”
“… But something changed. And, I’m a detail-oriented person. It’s an affliction that I have. It was ingrained in me, and I can’t get rid of it. I call, came in, and a decision was made. A directive was given, and Gerald Ray followed that report. And all you have to do is look at what actions were taken.”
The jury will reconvene on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and will begin deliberating after they are given instructions.
