More Trial News - The Sentencing

Hopefully this is the last of the trial news. It was an emotional day for all involved. Below is the e-mail my brother Matt sent out.

Friday 13th.2006 we arrived at the courtroom at 9:00am, coffey and family were already there.Mom,Michelle,Cheryl,Sue,Bianca(Cheryl’s trainee/assistant )and I had to wait until about 11:15 am until they got to the coffey case. Eric Roserio addressed the court after he had talked to us and I confirmed to him that we wanted the maximum sentence. Then mr.coffey was allowed to address us.He said that the reason why he couldn’t talk to us early was because the police told him not to and that it was still under investigation then he said his attorney told him not to say anything aswell,he said he wanted to say he was sorry but couldn’t. He then told us he was sorry for the pain he had caused our family.He said that after he had read all of our letters is when he tried to runaway and commit suicide, he said he just couldn’t forgive himself.he said that he has contemplated suicide a few more times since then.(I’m thinking and reading between the lines while he was talking if you were truly sorry then why in the heck didn’t you just plead guilty,admit your mistake and try to get a lesser sentence,why did you try to run away and not face the consequences of your actions?Why did you attempt to leave the scene of an crash with a broken ankle, why did you try to weasel out of the dui charge ona diabetic defense and go through thatagonizing trial.commit suicide? Like that would solve a lot of problems! He seemed very cowardly, like it was all about him) he did also though briefly mention that he was sorry to have caused his own family pain.shortly after his apology Mom and Cheryl took the stand,mom did great in reading her statement and then Cheryl read Terry’s letter,Bianca read Rita’s letter and then Sue read her letter which was really nice to have represented the Wisconsin side of the Schoeppe family,then Michelle who did another great job and I,My plan was to read the Tueckes letter(including Mary and Jacob’s) and the Renee’s letter, but by then I was an emotional basket case and it seemed that I couldn’t really add anymore than what was already said. So I stammered and told mr. coffey that there is forgiveness and that it is found in Our Lord Jesus Christ and that if you are truly repentant that I have forgiven him just as Christ has forgiven me. At least that’s what I thought I said(I won’t really know unless they release a transcript)Then the judge sort of briefly outlined the case as he understood it and gave a sentence of 12 years and 3 additional years of probation and a lifetime revocation of his drivers liscense.Michelle and I didn’t really sleep that well the night before then we had to get up at 6:00am and drop the kid’s off in Clearwater then on the way back to the courthouse print out our letters at work. So we could hurry up and wait. Sue then took us all out for lunch because Tommy had given her some money to do so which was his request.Thanks cousin Tommy and Vicki!, Love Matt.