Posted on 11/23/2021 4:40:42 AM PST by marktwain
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — An Indian River County man on trial in connection with a deadly 2017 SWAT raid in Gifford was found not guilty of five of the six charges Friday.
Andrew Coffee IV was charged with second-degree murder of his 21-year-old girlfriend and three counts of attempted murder of law enforcement after the raid led to an exchange of gunfire.
He was also acquitted of shooting or throwing a deadly missile.
The sheriff's office claimed Coffee IV fired shots first at deputies during an early-morning search warrant for narcotics at his Gifford home four years ago.
According to an arrest affidavit, SWAT team members returned fire into the bedroom. However, Coffee IV claimed deputies fired first.
Fearing for his life, Coffee IV told investigators that he fired two or three rounds. The sheriff's office maintained it announced its presence.
Coffee IV told investigators that he didn't know it was deputies because they did not announce who they were.
His girlfriend, Alteria Woods, who was also at the home, was shot 10 times and died during the gunfire.
A grand jury previously exonerated the officer and deputies who fired their weapons during the incident.
However, a jury on Friday found Coffee IV guilty of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon.
His attorney Julia Graves said her client can face up to 30 years in prison. They plan to ask for time served and appeal that guilty verdict.
"We were ecstatically happy with the first verdicts of the five counts of not guilty on the most serious charges that could cause him to spend the rest of his life in prison, so he was happy about that. We were happy about that," Graves said. "We knew there was going to be an issue by the possession of the firearm by a convicted felon because that's why we stipulated that he was in possession and stipulated he was a convicted felon, but we were hoping for the duress and necessity and self-defense on that."
The Left lies all the time.
There should be no raids for anything other than a life in imminent danger.
These raids are murdering honest citizens over minor harmless crimes.
Which will conveniently become damaged or destroyed, or the data on them will be lost or misplaced.
They’re unconstitutional. The Founders would have long been stacking bodies by now.
No knock raids are disgusting and should be illegal under the Constitution.
No knock raids deserve immediate and full retaliation. The world is out of control and needs a a course correction.
I think these No Knock Armed SWAT Raids should be done on JUDGES and ELECTED OFFICIALS on a Monthly Basis for practice
There’s a potential problem even when law enforcement announces its presence.
I am practically deaf in my right ear. Because of inner-ear problems I sleep on the side with my better ear. An announcement at my front door might not be audible to me in my bedroom with the door closed, as it customarily is. My wife would hear, but not everyone has someone to serve that function.
No-knock raids in my mind violate the spirit if not the letter of the Fourth Amendment. They were originally “justified” to prevent destruction of evidence in drug cases IIRC; that is to say, they prioritized expediency over liberty. In recent times we have seen them used as much to terrorize civilians as to obtain evidence. They’re dangerous both to civilians and to law enforcement. There have also been instances of raids mounted at incorrect addresses.
Shouting one announcement a tenth of a second before knocking down a door and 10 Soldiers bursting in is no announcement.
If I picture myself in that situation, I would likely be killed as I would have no reason to expect it and reaction time to process the muffled brief announcement is too low vs the immediate threat of people bursting in with guns. Add to that, these militarized police love to do these sort of knock raids in the very early morning when one is likely asleep. How is a person who is asleep supposed to hear such an inappropriate announcement vs the noise of the door breaking? My bedroom is not near the doors of my house and would not hear any such announcement. End result, I would be killed for no reason.
First, I don’t believe (without audio/video proof) that SWAT didn’t fire first and did announce they were police. Just don’t believe it. Stick together, cover your team’s back - hold the line.....stronger than the law, period. Adding insult to injury, charging the resident with murder when the girlfriend had a SWAT bullet(s) in her is just ludicrous - I don’t care what the law says.
Atlanta Drug Red Dog Squad killed a little old lady that way..
“ Which will conveniently become damaged or destroyed, or the data on them will be lost or misplaced.”
Which should result in an immediate dismissal with prejudice of all charges.
L
Indian River County? Racist county name! That's the *real* story here! /s
The case has gotten virtually no national publicity because it completely contradicts the Rittenhouse narrative.
The FBI does things the old-fashioned way - no body cameras, no recordings of interviews - so they can lie. Last I heard they were “studying” body cameras.
# Which should result in an immediate dismissal with prejudice of all charges.
And criminal charges against all officers for destruction of evidence. The law should presume willing destruction, and the stormtroopers would have to prove that they took strong, affirmative steps to retain and preserve the evidence.
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