Tuesday’s judgment by the Northern Carolina Appeal Court found that a former Granville County’s deputy records were incorrectly wrong, but it was not an amount to obstruct justice.
Chad Coffee was convicted in 12 cases of hindrance in justice in 2022 and spent five months in jail.
On Tuesday, Wral News reached the prosecutors, who are still deciding that new allegations have to be filed based on what coffee has accepted.
Coffee is still facing several corruption related allegations for the issues of the Sheriff Office’s drug unit in Granville County.
In February 2022, the then Sheriff Brindel Wilkins testified in coffee testing that he ordered coffee to make records wrongly and coffee should not be attributed to criminally.
Wilkins admitted that he asked coffee to sign the documents, who showed that Wilkins and Chief Deputy Sherwood Boyd had gone to training the mandate firearms, although neither had participated in it, saying that it was “to save trouble and time to do paper action.”
Coffee admitted that he signed the form on the instructions of Wilkins, but said he did not consider it a crime.
Coffee told the jury that he knew that Sheriffs and Chief Deputy were highly qualified with firearms when he signed the paperwork.
“You knew that what you were doing was wrong. You knew that you were committing a crime, “Wake County Assistant District Attorney Catherine Pomeroy told Coffee in February 2022.” Don’t come here and tell us that you did not know about it.
“You just don’t like what punishment is.”
“Every lie is not a crime,” said defense lawyer Heart Miles. “Is this a reasonable way to deal with law enforcement training issues?” Hart asked, considering the number of criminal allegations.
Heart called the case prosecutor “Overch”, coffee did just what he was asked to do without criminal intentions.
The jury still returned with a guilty judgment.
In closing the arguments in February 2022, Pomeroy said the matter was about confidence.
“We hope that our law will work with enforcement and honesty. And the only thing he has given to us is an excuse, ”said Pomeroy.
Wake County District Attorney Laurin Freeman said, “This is a tragic day for the criminal justice system. A culture developed (in the Granville Sheriff Office) that they were above the law. ,
“I don’t think you are a bad person … but, a widespread belief that the rules did not apply,” Judge Alan Badore told Coffee. “This may not just be a way of working of the system.”