“He had almost a small arsenal in his truck, ready to fight,” Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said before sentencing Coffman to several months more than prosecutors had recommended.
During the sentencing, Kollar-Kotelly said she did not believe that “all my years as a judge I had such a collection of weapons” in a case, adding that Coffman “went on two tours in Vietnam, so he certainly knows what napalm can be. in relation to the combination of styrofoam and gasoline found in the jars.
Coffman, who has been in prison since his arrest on January 6, 2021, will receive praise for his time. He was also sentenced to three years of suspension and compulsory mental health treatment. (Coffman struggles with depression as well as a number of health problems, including chronic pain throughout his body.)
On Jan. 6, Coffman’s car was parked inside a security perimeter created after the discovery of pipe bombs in both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee buildings. After taking a walk with a woman he had met that day and sharing a pizza in the Pentagon after the Stop the Steal rally, Coffman returned to his vehicle and was immediately arrested by police who had found the truck during the perimeter search.
When Coffman was arrested on the night of Jan. 6, police discovered he was carrying two full, unlicensed guns and had a contact card for a Texas militia.
Coffman has been on FBI radar since a 2014 trip with the American Patriots militia, where he took a shotgun and a pistol with him to Camp Lonestar, where teams patrol the U.S.-Mexico border, according to court documents.
Investigators also found handwritten lists from Coffman’s truck and home, where he identified some politicians, political agents and a federal judge with titles such as “traitors,” “Obama’s dog,” or simply categorized them. bad “.
“The lists are always worrying, even if no additional threats are made,” Kolar-Kotelli said.
After facing seven charges from the Justice Department, Coffman pleaded guilty to two counts in November: he brought destructive devices – Molotov cocktails – and an unlicensed weapon to the Capitol on the day of the uprising. During a search of his home, police found 12 more Molotov cocktails, which Coffman blamed and pleaded guilty to possession.
Prosecutors say Coffman stayed out of his truck for several days in Washington before attending the Jan. 6 rally, but has no evidence that he broke into the Capitol illegally or entered the building.
“From my point of view, you will have another life ahead of you,” Kollar-Kotelly told Coffman during the sentencing. “Do not shake your head, you will still do it.”
