Macon DA drops murder charge against woman who shot husband. Here’s why
A Macon woman who says she shot her husband in self-defense has had her murder case dismissed, according to court records obtained by The Telegraph Monday.
Lateesha Riddle was charged in 2023 with the murder of Eddie Riddle, her husband. She sought to have the charges tossed earlier this year, testifying in court on Jan. 27 that she had shot him to protect her mother and children during one of his aggressive outbursts.
Judge Jeffery Monroe denied her request for immunity, but days before she was scheduled to go to trial, Chief Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Adams said in a court document that the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the evidence and court transcripts, and determined Lateesha Riddle had justifiably shot her husband.
Adams asked Monroe to toss the case, which he agreed to do, dismissing the case without prejudice. Because the case is dismissed without prejudice, Lateesha Riddle could face prosecution again if new evidence came to light.
“I am thrilled that my client Ms. Riddle has been exonerated of all charges,” said Reza Sedghi, Lateesha Riddle’s attorney. “I also want to give credit to the District Attorney Anita Howard who has made the correct decision in dropping these charges.”
‘Justified’ actions in fatal Macon shooting
Eddie Riddle was shot on Oct. 2, 2022, after a slow-brewing tension between him and Lateesha Riddle escalated into an altercation in front of family members, according to court records.
Eddie Riddle had confronted Lateesha Riddle that day after she had a conversation with her stepbrother on their back porch, but she ignored him and went to buy groceries, according to testimony given at an immunity hearing. When she came back, Eddie Riddle was mad that she had left the house. He said he wanted her to help put a football game on TV.
She told him it was “not my fault you don’t know how to operate a smartphone,” at which point he pushed all their groceries off the kitchen counter and onto the floor, Lateesha Riddle told the judge at her immunity hearing.
Lateesha Riddle’s mother, Sheila Taylor, got in-between the two in an attempt to stop the fight. Eddie Riddle allegedly violently grabbed and threw a child to the ground in the home, then retrieved a gun and threatened to kill everyone in the home, according to testimony from the hearing.
Lateesha Riddle got her own gun and hid it, according to testimony. When Eddie Riddle tried to force Lateesha Riddle and Taylor out of the home and raised a fist at Taylor, his wife shot him twice.
The defendant’s arguments in court sought to prove in the hearing that Eddie Riddle “displayed an unprecedented level of rage,” and that at a weight of about 340 pounds, he could have caused substantial injury or even death with one punch when he raised his fist.
Lateesha Riddle also testified that she suffered from a history of domestic abuse throughout their four-year marriage, including times when Eddie Riddle would be physically violent with her.
Besides physical abuse, prosecutors saw that Lateesha Riddle had suffered beyond that, writing in a request to dismiss the case that “more often he had been psychologically and emotionally abusive toward her.”
Adams said the state couldn’t combat what Riddle had proven in testimony.
“In reaching the legal conclusion that Mrs. Riddle’s actions in this situation were justified, the State accedes that it can produce no additional evidence to fill in the gaps or to answer additional questions,” Adams wrote in a request to dismiss the case. “Further, the State has no evidence to refute the corroborated testimony of Mrs. Riddle in regard to her claim for self-defense, which is the State’s responsibility once such a defense is raised in any given situation.”
Prosecutors also used the recent passage of the Georgia Survivor Justice Act, which allows for those victims charged with murder to offer a justifiable defense by sharing evidence of family violence, dating violence or child abuse.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM.
