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James Richard McCoy, of Manchester has been sentence to 30 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections for the September 2018 murder of his ex wife.
McCoy on Monday, Feb 6, 2023, pled guilty to second degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. He was 54-years old at the time of the murder. He is 58-years old now. He has been in jail since his arrest in September of 2018.
“This sentence is not nearly enough to be proportionate to the horrendous acts committed by Mr. McCoy,” Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott said in a released statement. “However, they are sufficient to insure that he spends the rest of his life in custody.”
On September 8, 2018, McCoy and his ex-wife Lisa McCoy were at a concert at Bean’s Creek Winery. According to Northcott, McCoy was behaving unusual and possessive.
“Lisa was visibly frightened, and her friends were scared for her safety,” explained Northcott. “She told her friends that Mr. McCoy was going to kill her. However, she decided to return home with Mr. McCoy.”
Upon returning home, Mr. McCoy shot Lisa in the head and neck “no less than 12 times” while their son was in the home.
According to Northcott, Mr. McCoy then proceeded to attempt to coverup his crime by scrubbing the scene thoroughly, gathering shell casings and cutting off Lisa’s legs below the knees and putting her dismembered body and legs in the trunk of her car.
Mr. McCoy was taken into custody at approximately 4 a.m. on Sept. 9 and has remained in custody since that time.
“Lisa was a wonderful lady, a caring and devoted mother, a great sister and a friend to all that knew her,” Northcott added in his statement. “Her family is in complete support of this resolution so that they can have closure without having to expose Lisa’s son to the evidence that would have been presented at trial as well as save themselves from the same trauma. They have offered Mr. McCoy far more grade and mercy than he ever deserved. They are hopeful to use this horrible tragedy as a springboard for educating others about the dangers of domestic violence.
“Please pray for Lisa’s family as they continue to deal with this loss.”
During their 13-year relationship, Northcott said that Mr. McCoy physically, verbally and emotional abused Lisa, who kept returning to the relationship for the benefit of their son, Northcott stated. They had been married and divorced twice.
Mr. McCoy made multiple threats to kill Lisa. In fact, between their two marriages and after their second divorce, Mr. McCoy confronted and physically assaulted men that Lisa was dating and even threatened one man with a gun.
According to Northcott, in the weeks before Lisa’s murder, she agreed to attempt another reconciliation. Just days before he murdered Lisa, Mr. McCoy again threatened to shoot Lisa in the head if she left him again. Lisa made it known to everyone that she intended to leave Mr. McCoy and that their attempted reconciliation was a horrible idea.
