On Friday, a Florida man was acquitted of all charges stemming from a shootout with police during a SWAT raid in 2017.
Andrew Coffee IV was charged with three counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and second-degree murder.
Coffee was charged for the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Alteria Woods, who was killed during the shootout. She was shot ten times by law enforcement.
The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office executed an early morning search warrant in March of 2017 for narcotics. Their intended target was Coffee’s father, Andrew Coffee III, who they suspected of dealing drugs.
Coffee maintains that the sheriff’s never announced their presence and fired several shots. Deputies returned fire. Woods, who was in the home at the time, was fatally shot ten times during the raid. Her family is suing the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office in federal court.
Although Coffee was found not guilty on the most severe charges connected to the shootout, he was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Julia Graves, Coffee’s attorney, said he could face up to 30 years in prison.
“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, Graves said. “We were happy about that.”
Coffee’s sentencing for the gun charge is set for January 13, 2022.
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Durell Sims of martin county Florida shot a police officer in self defense. His testimony was the officer tailgated him home from a store, and followed him into his backyard on the allegation of suspected drunk driving. Sims felt threatened for his life when the police followed him into his backyard after stalking him for a few minutes. The officer initial statement alleged the he turned on his blue lights after sims left the roadway and was on private property. The state along with poor representation by his attorneys allowed the state to make the situation look as a routine traffic stop and and a chase that led the police officer into sims backyard where the incident occurred. Sims shot at this officer who drew his gun on him. Sims was given a life sentence although he legally possessed his rifle. It is clear that the wrong jury instructions were given to the jury but this case was ignored since the day she was convicted in may of 2007. See Sims v. State case # 4d15-1144 Fourth District Court Of Appeals. In this attempt to have a fair stand ground defense the court said he is to late even where the state implicitly admit to the flaw. Who would shed light on his case and speak to him about what really happen and not what people want to believe?