Share and Follow
Suzanne Mericle has been convicted on four out of seven charges, encompassing felony murder and reckless conduct.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — On Friday evening, a jury declared a St. Simons Island dentist guilty of murdering her boyfriend.
Mericle was convicted of four charges, including felony murder while committing first-degree criminal damage to property. This verdict relates to the death of her boyfriend, James David Barron, at their residence in Georgia in March 2025. Additionally, she was found guilty of reckless conduct, criminal damage to property, and tampering with evidence.
The jury began its deliberations on Thursday and reached a decision by around 5 p.m. on Friday.
The jury started deliberating on Thursday and delivered its verdict around 5 p.m. Friday.
Suzanne Mericle was on trial for shooting and killing Barron on the night of March 7, 2025, at their home on Lake Lanier, Georgia. Investigators say Mericle shot Barron through a door to a bedroom at their home after he locked himself inside. Attorneys say they had been fighting about a woman named Lilia with whom Barron was having an affair.
Prosecutors started their closing argument by describing a defendant who had been spiraling for months and snapped ‘for the last time.’ They reiterated Mericle was ‘obsessed’ with Lilia and became ‘unhinged.’
“It was all she talked about. It was all she argued with David about. It was all she ever wanted to talk about with anyone who was willing to listen. And she became unhinged. And that unhinged jealousy was not new to David, nor to the defendant, because before Lilia, there was Laura. And after Laura, there was Meg,” Hall County Assistant District Attorney, Rachel Bennett, said.
Bennett said Barron removed himself from the fight the night of the shooting by going upstairs and locking himself in the bedroom. She argued that Mericle got her gun and shot at the door, knowing Barron was on the other side.
“This defendant did what she always did. She got angry, she got obsessive, she got unhinged, and she spiraled for the last time on March 7th. So David goes upstairs, he’s in the bedroom, and she goes and gets her Glock. She goes and gets her Glock. She walks up the stairs. She gets the gun six inches away from the door. She points, she listens, she aims, and she fires, and Mr. Barron is dead,” Bennett said.
Jurors had to consider the following charges: murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and tampering with evidence.
Bennett told jurors Mericle committed murder with malice because she shot the gun at the door in an upward angle about eight inches above the lock while Barron was taking a defensive stance behind the door. Bennett also argued that once Mericle got inside the room, she began ‘covering up’ the crime.