Inheritance rides on whether father killer was insane

In a murder case that gained national notoriety with its "Red Bull" defense, Thomas Coffeen now says it wasn't the energy drink that drove his brother to kill their father.

That, Coffeen says, would be impossible.

"I drink Red Bull, my brother drank goat milk," Coffeen said. "He's from California. They drink goat milk."

Coffeen doesn't believe his brother Stephen was sleep-deprived from energy drinks when he suffocated their father with a couch pillow in St. Petersburg two years ago.

He doesn't believe Stephen was legally insane at the time, either, though five doctors have concluded he was.

The question will be decided this morning by Pinellas Circuit Judge Nancy Moate Ley.

Ley will rule on a plea deal worked out by attorneys for the defense and prosecution in which Stephen Coffeen, 42, would spend time in a state mental hospital rather than stand trial on a murder charge.

Thomas Coffeen is waging an eleventh hour campaign to persuade the judge to let a jury decide the case. Others also say Stephen Coffeen was sane when he killed his father, retired college professor Robert Coffeen, 83.

"You have him, you have his wife, you have potentially his children, you have the people at the law office where they were doing business that week," said Allen Allweiss, an attorney representing Thomas Coffeen.

Allweiss, a former prosecutor who tried similar cases, said there is legal precedent to take a case to trial when lay witnesses' observations of a defendant's behavior contradict what the experts say.

State attorney Bernie McCabe say prosecutors are ethically bound to side with experts when they unanimously agree on legal insanity.

Allweiss disagrees with those experts and Stephen Coffeen's defense lawyers who say he snapped the day he killed his father.

"That's a crock," Said Allweiss. "Nobody snaps unless they have a history of snapping."

Thomas Coffeen says he believes his brother killed his father out of jealousy and thinks his brother planned the murder before coming here for a rare family visit from his home in California.

"There's no question he came down here to do that," Thomas Coffeen said.

But others suggest justice for his father may not be the only reason Thomas Coffeen is pushing for prison instead of commitment to a state mental hospital for his brother.

If Stephen Coffeen is convicted at trial, he won't get to split his father's inheritance of about $385,000 and a house. If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, on the other hand, he could walk away with his share.

"Right now, that money is frozen and cannot be touched until a judge's order so I'm not after that money," Thomas Coffeen said. "It has nothing to do with money whatsoever."

Coffeen said he's financially independent now, but as recently as a year ago — seven months after his father's death — he faced a million dollar foreclosure action on his Treasure Island home.

Coffeen says that was resolved through a short sale approved by the bank and he's back on his feet again, financially.

"I have a lot of problems and money ain't one of them," Coffeen said.

Coffeen said one problem he does have is the fear that his brother will dodge prison by faking insanity and return someday to harm him or his family.

"I don't want the man back on the street again," Coffeen said. "I don't want him to harm myself, my family and as I said before, society."

Pinellas Circuit judge Nancy Moate Ley is expected to announce today whether she will approve a plea deal worked out between defense lawyers and prosecutors.

That agreement would find Stephen Coffeen not guilty by reason of insanity and send him to a state mental hospital for an indefinite term of treatment.

Whatever the judge decides, Thomas Coffeen said he still hasn't been able to grieve his father's death, and he will never reconcile with the brother who killed him.

"Never," Coffeen said. "He's not my brother anymore."

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mdouglas@wfla.com

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