ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - [UPDATE: Dec. 15, 8 p.m.:] The third trial of Susan Embert is still in limbo as the Georgia Supreme Court decides what to do with her case.

On Dec. 8, defense attorneys for Susan Embert filed an emergency motion with the state court pending the outcome of an appeal from the denial of her plea in bar on Double Jeopardy grounds. The Georgia Supreme Court then halted the trial until further order of the court.

In the latest filings with the state court, Susan Embert’s attorneys also filed a motion for an extension of time as they await transcripts from a November 2025 hearing and the second trial that resulted in a mistrial.

The state filed a response Friday, Dec. 12, in opposition of the defense’s request, saying that the latest filing is another “dilatory tactic designed to further delay the Appellant’s trial.”

In the response, the state said that the court passed an order mandating that Susan Embert’s attorneys “supplement the record with a copy of her plea in bar, as well as the notice of appeal and any transcripts of the pertinent hearings, by no later than 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11.”

The state said they feel the two transcripts that the defense is waiting to receive are “not needed for this court to evaluate whether to lift the current stay on the Appellant’s trial proceedings.”

“... the parties in this case, especially the victims, have been waiting too long for justice, resolution, and closure. Any additional stay — no matter the duration — will only further delay the cause of justice that the parties deserve.”

[ORIGINAL STORY:] The Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office has responded to an emergency motion, filed by the attorneys of Susan Embert.

Susan Embert is charged in connection to the 2014 murder of her husband, William “Jake” Embert. She was convicted in 2019, but that conviction was dismissed on speedy trial grounds. Her second trial last week, was ruled a mistrial without prejudice.

Her defense then filed an emergency motion with the Georgia Supreme Court after Dougherty County Judge Victoria Johnson denied the defense’s request of a “plea in bar on double jeopardy grounds.”

The Georgia Supreme Court then stayed any trial proceedings until further order of the court Monday.

In the defense’s emergency motion, they argued Susan Embert’s constitutional rights were violated in the previous trial, that ended in a mistrial last Friday due to excluded testimony being mentioned.

Now in the the state’s response to that emergency motion, they claim Susan Embert’s attorneys flooded the courts with, “inaccuracies and misrepresentation intended to delay a retrial.”

They also argue Susan Embert has shown a “pattern of misrepresentation to courts.” Citing a Nov. 18 incident where Susan filed a “Request for Judicial Notice of RN License” with the courts. They claim she filed for the license after previously testifying in 2019 that she is not a licensed nurse in any state. Now the state is questioning the accuracy of Susan Embert’s “representations or misrepresentations to any judicial body.”

The state also said that the, “...(Defendant’s) plea in bar and subsequent appeal of its denial is both frivolous—it has no sound basis in fact— and dilatory— it is simply intended to delay the (Defendant’s) trial.”

The mistrial last week came after Dougherty County’s coroner, Michael Fowler, mentioned testimony that was supposed to be excluded from Susan Embert’s retrial. The District Attorney’s Office stated in their response that the coroner’s testimony was made outside of any relevant context that would affect the state’s right to prosecute the, “serious violent felonies” for which Susan is indicted for.

“This case has taken pieces of us that we will never get back.

It has drained our strength, our stability, our finances, our health, our hope.

It has turned our grief into a home we’ve been forced to live in for eleven years.

Justice delayed has become its own form of violence.”

Now it’s up to the Georgia Supreme Court to make a ruling on if the trial can proceed. Jurors are still on call pending that ruling.

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