July 22, 2026 – A Nashville Jury rejected claims that Monica Wilson was acting in self-defense when she shot and killed her own brother in the front yard of their grandmother’s East Nashville home in 2024. Instead, the jury in Criminal Court Division VI found Wilson guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter, a lesser charge than the indicted offense of First-Degree Murder. It was the first murder trial for Nashville Assistant District Attorney Eli Cheely serving as First Chair. General Cheely had the unenviable task of sparring against one of the most well-respected legal defense attorneys in the state, as Peter Strianse was representing defendant Wilson. Mr. Strianse stressed that Wilson and other women had been bullied for years by her brother Michael, who went by the name Marcel, and that the shooting was a reaction to years of abuse, including on the day of the shooting. Cheely and co-prosecutor Casas were able to show that although Marcel Wilson had an abusive history, it was Wilson who pulled the gun and opened fire, then admitted to the shooting in a frantic 911 call played for the jury. Wilson will be sentenced in November by Judge Cynthia Chappell, and faces 8 to 12 years for the killing.
