Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is set for 9:30am in the case of Lonnie Coffman, charged with bringing a cache of firearms + homemade napalm Molotov cocktails to DC on Jan. 6 s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2049…

Here's the dial-in info for Kollar-Kotelly's line if you'd like to listen:
Toll Free Number: 866-390-1828
Access Code: 9159943

Coffman has been in jail since his arrest in Jan. On the public line in advance of the plea hearing, his lawyer asks how he's doing, he replies "Not too well" and starts describing an incident at the jail, but it's muffled. Lawyer moves them to a private breakout room to discuss

It appears there's also some tech issue where the judge (and all of us on the public line) can hear everyone, but others on the line, including Coffman's lawyer, can't hear the judge. "This is so annoying," she says, noting she's on a tight schedule this morning

A lawyer says, on the public line: "I just learned that the public line is presently able to hear all of the discussions"

Judge: "Anybody hear us?"

#TGIF

Okay the judge and the lawyers can now hear each other, but it's not clear where Coffman's line is. CKK has his lawyer confirm he's at the DC jail's Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF), which is not the section where people are being moved out by USMS because of poor conditions

Okay, everyone is on the line now and they're going to get started with Lonnie Coffman's plea hearing

Coffman is entering guilty pleas in two separate cases. The first is the original one out of DC re: weapons he was charged with having on Jan. 6, and the second is out of Alabama re: 11 Molotov cocktails he had leading up to Jan. 6 (those were found in his car in DC on Jan. 6)

In the DC case, Coffman is pleading guilty to two counts — counts 1 & 2 in the indictment, for having the 11 Molotov cocktails and a 9mm handgun. He's also forefeiting all the other guns found in his truck. The rest of the counts in the indictment will be dismissed per the deal

Kollar-Kotelly is currently going over all the rights that Coffman is waiving by pleading guilty

AUSA is reading the statement of facts that Coffman is admitting to — that he left his truck at around 9:20am and walked towards the Capitol carrying two guns on his person. He isn't charged with participating in the riot and the rest of his timeline that day isn't specified

Kollar-Kotelly asks Coffman if that statement of facts is right. He says yes, and explains that one of them was a revolver that was a gift from a family member. Judge then goes through the specific elements one by one

A hitch: CKK asks about the Mason jars, and Coffman says the gasoline had been in there for 3 years and the vapors had evaporated, and couldn't have been used as a Molotov cocktail. CKK says she can't accept his plea then, since he's not admitting they were explosives

AUSA says what makes it a destructive device is whether parts were designed or intended to be used as an incendiary weapon, and Coffman had admitted that, perhaps there was a "miscommunication" — judge cuts him off, noting Coffman said what he said, "Let’s not dance around here"

Judge asks court reporter to read back what Coffman said but we can't hear that on the public line. AUSA again says what matters is whether the combo of parts were designed/intended to be used as an incendiary weapon, and judge says she disagrees that's what's on the record now

Kollar-Kotelly is giving Coffman a chance to speak privately with his lawyer about all this. "I want to hear whether he agrees that this could be a Molotov cocktail, that it would work," she says. Now they're figuring out how to put Coffman back in a breakout room

Here's the text of the count now at issue. The judge says the problem is if Coffman's position is that the jars contained a substance that could not, in fact, be converted into a useable Molotov cocktail. He told her the gasoline had been in there for 3 years and had evaporated

Another problem: Coffman's lawyer Manuel Retureta comes back to say the DC jail dropped Coffman's video line before they could talk in a breakout room, now they're trying to at least get him a phone

This is a mess: There's no phone in the room where Coffman is at the DC jail, it's in another location. Coffman is back on the zoom conference. He'd said he didn't have a way to select the breakout room option, but a jail employee says there is a mouse there

Okay Coffman was able to talk to his lawyer and everyone is back with the judge now

Judge says her two concerns are: 1) Could the jars actually be used as a Molotov cocktails, and 2) Did *he believe* that they could be used that way at the time on Jan. 6

Coffman's lawyer says the answer to both question is yes — that he put them together 3-4 years ago, put all the components in there, and that he thought maybe there was a chance the octane could have evaporated but hadn't done any tests on that

Coffman tells the judge the jars had been in his truck for a while before he came to DC, didn't plan on "blowing up" anything: "I agree that they could have been used for that purpose. But I was not going to use them for that purpose." Judge says okay, sets aside intent for now

Judge asks the AUSA if there *was* gasoline in the jars, he says yes, that's his understanding of what the govt's chemical analysis showed

Judge asks Coffman if he was speculating when he questioned if the gasoline might have evaporated from the jars and that he hadn't done any tests/didn't know for sure one way or another — he says that's right

After the second round of questioning, the judge ultimately accepts Coffman's guilty plea, finding the government did prove all the elements of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt

Max sentences are: 10 years for the Molotov cocktails (federal crime) and 5 years for carrying a pistol w/out a license in DC (DC crime). The est'd guidelines range for the federal offense is 37-46 months in prison, but govt reserves right to seek a terrorism enhancement

Judge pauses, says that Coffman looks tired and asks if he's okay. He says he didn't get good sleep last night and they woke him up at 5am for today's hearing. She asks if he wants to stop or continue, he says he's okay to continue

Coffman's plea deal includes a partial cooperation agreement — he'll let the feds access his social media accounts and will participate in an interview about Jan. 6 before sentencing (we've seen this in a lot of other Jan. 6 plea deals so far)

For the DC Code offense (unlicensed pistol), the estimated recommended sentencing range is 6-24 mos in prison, probation is an option (max is 5 years)

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has now formally accepted Lonnie Coffman's guilty plea in his DC case to two counts, for bringing 11 Molotov cocktails (destructive devices) and carrying a pistol without a license in DC

Next up: The judge will consider Coffman's guilty plea in a related case out of federal district court in Alabama re: having the Molotov cocktails there leading up to Jan. 6. She's going to take a short break first

Judge explains that Coffman's Alabama case involves a dozen (charging doc says 11) additional Molotov cocktails found at this home, he's pleading guilty to the same federal offense as in the DC case. Sentencing guidelines range is also the same, 37 to 46 mos

Story: An Alabama man pleaded guilty to bringing homemade Molotov cocktails to Washington on Jan. 6, along with a cache of firearms and ammunition. Things briefly went off the rails when there was confusion about whether the devices were still operable: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Coffman's case is considered part of the Jan. 6 prosecutions, but he's not charged with joining the riot — he parked near the Capitol and walked in that direction in the a.m. w/ two guns in his pockets, but the govt didn't fill in the rest of his timeline buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

As part of his plea deal, govt dropped the rest of the DC weapons charges he was facing for the second gun on his person (a revolver) and the other firearms and ammunition found in his truck. They also found: a crossbow, machetes, stun gun, smoke devices buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

(The judge has now formally accepted Coffman's guilty plea for the second case out of Alabama)

Lonnie Coffman's sentencing is set for April 1.

On all the weapons he's now admitted bringing to DC on Jan. 6:
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

And three hours later, that's a wrap on that.