The 48 Hours special two-hour show “The Evidence Room” investigates the death of 29-year-old Rob McKernan. His wife of eight months, Colleen McKernan, 26, was arrested on New Year’s Eve 2014 for fatally shooting him that night in their Massillon, Ohio home following a night of drinking and arguing. Colleen McKernan says she killed her husband in self-defense. She shot him ten times in the face, chest and side. McKernan testified at her trial. “I was just trying to stop him,” she said. Two juries had deadlocked. While living under house arrest and awaiting her third trial, in 2016, McKernan asked the court if she could continue her house arrest in New York, with her father and stepmother. Her attorneys claimed McKernan was receiving death threats via social media from members in the local Ohio community who knew where she lived.
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McKernan’s request to move was not granted. In 2017, to avoid a third trial, Colleen McKernan pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to seven years in prison. After serving three and a half years, she is eligible for early release. 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 9pm on CBS.
