![]() ![]() 'He was cowardly using her as protection,' Loar said. His 21-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Alteria Woods, was killed in the ensuring crossfire.Īt the time, Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar accused Coffee of using Woods as a human shield.Īndrew 'A.J."'Coffee IV (center) seated with his defense lawyers reacts to a jury verdict acquitting him of second-degree felony murder and other felony charges during his trial at the Indian River County Courthouse. 45-caliber pistol, supposedly fearing for his life. The young man said he did not hear the deputies identify themselves as law enforcement. In Coffee's case, he reportedly shot at Indian River County, Florida Sheriff's deputies, who has raided his home in 2017.Ĭoffee testified that he was sleeping when the deputies burst into his Gifford, Florida home. In a much less publicized case, which was also decided on Friday, Florida jurors found Andrew Coffee IV, a black man, not guilty of charges including felony murder and attempted murder. 'I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me.' I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,' he said. Rittenhouse dramatically claimed self-defense on the witness stand. On Friday, November 19, a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, of intentional first-degree homicide and attempted first-degree homicide in the shootings of three men. While it is ill-advised to draw broad conclusions from three trials with distinct circumstances, under different state laws, before different judges and juries - there are three recent cases that suggest that the reality of justice in America is more complicated than Van Jones and others claim it to be. Wilson reportedly shot at a vehicle carrying the purported victim and her friends, after they allegedly yelled racial slurs, swerved at him on the highway and threw an object at his car. 'In a justice system that has historically treated Black defendants more harshly than white ones, Wilson’s case raises the question of whether a young Black man’s self-defense claim will carry the same weight as those made by other recent high-profile defendants,' Buzzfeed wrote. Vice President Kamala Harris aired her disappointment with the verdict in Kenosha, telling reporters, 'I've spent a majority of my career working to make our criminal justice system more equitable. It's clear, there's still a lot more work to do.'īuzzfeed focused on the case of 21-year-old Marc Wilson, who is facing felony murder charges, after shooting and killing a white 17-year-old woman. Of course, Van Jones is not alone in bringing up these questions following the Rittenhouse trial. (Right) Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of intentional homicide and other charges (Center) Andrew Coffee IV was acquitted on felony murder and attempted murder. ![]() 3 CASES, 3 DIFFERENT OUTCOMES: (Left) Travis McMichael was found guilty for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. ![]()
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