The girl said she had known and trusted the police command officer, a family friend, since she was a baby and considered him her “godfather.” ["Girl describes alleged sexual assault by cop". The Muskegon Chronicle. June 14, 2004.]
Third Heights cop faces felony charges
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
January 17, 2003
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A Muskegon Heights police sergeant was charged with attempted rape of a preteen girl and writing bad checks Thursday, the third Muskegon Heights police officer charged with felony crimes in 30 days.
Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, a veteran officer, was arraigned before 60th District Judge Andrew Wierengo III on charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony carrying a life sentence upon conviction, and writing three nonsufficient funds checks during a 10-day period, also a felony.
“We are working with the chief of Muskegon Heights to send a strong message that this type of behavior is unacceptable,” said Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague.
“It’s unfortunate that the arrests in the last 30 days have tarnished the image of the Muskegon Heights Police Department, when in fact most officers are honest and hard-working,” the prosecutor said.
Coleman, 41, of 3220 Mona, was freed on bail shortly after his arraignment.
Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. could not be reached for comment this morning, but Lt. Lynne Gill said Coleman has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.
The alleged sex offense occurred in December 2001, but the allegation did not come to the attention of law enforcement officials until last September, Tague said.
At that time, Smith and the prosecutor’s office asked for an outside agency to investigate the complaint.
“There was an extensive investigation by the Michigan State Police, who found the victim’s testimony credible,” Tague said, “and there were other corroborating circumstances.” He did not provide details.
It is alleged that Coleman attempted to engage in sexual intercourse with the child while she was a guest in his home and that he was not successful in his attempt, Tague said.
Some of Coleman’s family members were present for the arraignment as well as a fellow police officer.
Frederick Williams, 32, said Coleman has been a friend for about 20 years.
“He’s a wonderful guy,” Williams said. “I had a bad juvenile record. Phil was more like a father, a best friend. He helped me overcome a lot of obstacles.”
Bobby Ellis, 25, said Coleman, who is his brother, “taught me right from wrong.”
Family members said the girl in the complaint is a friend of one of Coleman’s stepdaughters and that the girl’s mother frequently left her unsupervised. Ellis said Coleman tried to help the girl as he did many children.
“Every time she got sick, injured or suspended from school, she came to our house,” said Danyell Sherrill, 18, one of Coleman’s stepdaughters. “My mom even went to her school conferences.”
Sherrill said she has no problem leaving her 2-year-old daughter with Coleman. “I feel that no one should think he is a bad person who would do something like this to a child. If anyone thinks that, they ought to be ashamed. Everybody knows Phil is way better than that,” she said.
“He’s looking forward to vindicating himself,” said Al Swanson, Coleman’s attorney. He said he couldn’t comment further because he had yet to see the police reports of the cases.
The bad check charge involves three checks totaling $1,600, all of them presented and cashed at a local Plumb’s grocery store in November. A state police report shows Coleman’s account was overdrawn.
Coleman is the owner of “Secure One,” a business he started in 2000, and the checks were written on that account. The report said Coleman told an investigator “he got in over his head and couldn’t catch up.”
The first Muskegon Heights officer to be charged with a crime was 26-year-old Neil Siebert, a road patrol officer. He was charged Dec. 17 in connection with a “road rage” incident that was reported on I-96 in Fruitport Township.
Siebert faces a felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, along with two misdemeanor offenses, assault and battery and reckless driving. Last week, Siebert also was charged with assault and reckless driving in another alleged road rage incident that occurred last August in Kent County.
On Dec. 31, Sgt. George Hubbard, 52, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property. The 20-year veteran is accused of chasing and twice ramming a woman friend’s vehicle on Dec. 29. He also has been suspended from his job without pay until his case is decided.
Preliminary examinations in the Siebert and Hubbard cases have been adjourned until the court hears motions later this month from Swanson, who represents both men. Swanson contends the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office should be disqualified because the officers are witnesses in upcoming court cases and may have to deal with pending charges during those proceedings, creating a conflict of interest.
In 1997, Coleman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery for striking a man he saw kissing his wife. The officer, who was on duty at the time of the assault, wound up being fined $200. Coleman had reported the incident to his supervising officer immediately after it happened.
Another Muskegon Heights police command officer, Roger Kitchen, was suspended and demoted last year after he was stabbed during a domestic dispute while on duty.
Kitchen was suspended for two weeks without pay and demoted from sergeant to patrol officer for violating department policy, said Smith. Charges were not filed because neither party wanted to prosecute.
Thursday afternoon, Coleman posted 10 percent of a $5,000 bond in the criminal sexual conduct case and was directed by the court to have no contact with the girl or any minor child under the age of 16. A $2,000 personal recognizance bond was posted in the check case. Preliminary examinations were scheduled for Jan. 30.
Despite officers’ arrests, leaders support chief John S. Hausman
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
January 18, 2003
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Key Muskegon Heights city officials firmly support Police Chief George Smith, despite what the mayor calls a “disturbing” number of felony charges against city police officers.
Three, including two command officers, have been charged with felonies in the last 30 days.
And Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague says he is working with the chief to correct “problems within the department,” while urging city officials to take a hard look at the situation.
Smith and other command officers could not be reached for comment Friday.
Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, 41, became the most recent officer to be arraigned when he was charged Thursday with criminal sexual conduct and writing non-sufficient funds checks.
On Dec. 31, Sgt. George Hubbard, 52, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for ramming a woman friend’s car.
On Dec. 17, road patrol officer Neil Siebert, 26, was charged with felony assault in connection with a “road rage” incident.
And several other Muskegon Heights officers and one former command officer have been investigated or prosecuted in a variety of incidents in recent years.
It would take a vote by the city council to have Smith fired, city officials said. But that’s not likely anytime soon, because city leaders are not blaming Smith.
“These are not work-related incidents,” said City Manager Melvin C. Burns II. “These are aberrations. The city’s other employees do their jobs without incident.”
“I don’t think it’s the chief’s fault that those people don’t know how to act when they’re off duty,” said Mayor Pro Tem Willie Burrel.
Burrel said that even though police officers are technically always on duty, the chief cannot be held responsible for the actions of officers not directly under his command.
However, Burns said, “nobody is saying the police department or the city council supports these officers’ actions.”
Mayor Rillastine Wilkins stressed that none of the three officers in the latest incidents has been convicted. But she called the number of allegations “disturbing.”
“They not only reflect badly on the chief, it reflects badly on the city,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins says she expects the chief to give the city council a full report on the recent incidents.
All three officers have been suspended without pay and those suspensions are forcing more overtime duty on the city’s already short-handed force.
City leaders have been struggling with a $1 million budget deficit.
“These suspensions will all put the city in a precarious position,” said Burrel. “We’ll have to have overtime for other folks while these officers are off. It’s not a good situation for us at all.”
Burrel said the city needs to adopt a code of ethics for all its employees.
Tague urged city officials to examine and improve conditions in the police department and repeated that he is working with Smith to make sure the situation improves.
“I can assure the citizens of Muskegon Heights that something is going to be done,” Tague said. “Whatever the problem is, it’s going to get solved, because we as a community can no longer tolerate this type of conduct in a police department.
“I’ve spoken to the chief about problems within the department and have received a commitment that we’ll be working together to ensure that penalties are paid for misconduct and that policies are put in place to prevent any future occurrences,” the prosecutor said.
“At this point I think the city has to take a hard look as to why these incidents occurred, and how they can address issues which led up to persons employed as police officers committing criminal acts,” Tague said.
“Certainly all law enforcement in the county is concerned when there are repeated arrests in a law-enforcement agency,” Tague said. “I’m extremely concerned with these cases because unfortunately it tarnishes the reputation of all the honest, hard-working police officers in our county.”
FAXBOX:
- Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman — charged Thursday with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and writing three nonsufficient funds checks within 10 days.
- Sgt. George Hubbard — charged Dec. 31 with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property. Accused of chasing and ramming a woman friend’s vehicle.
- Officer Neil Siebert — charged Dec. 17 with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and reckless driving in an alleged “road rage” incident. Charged last week in Kent County with assault and reckless driving in another alleged road rage incident.
- Officer Roger Kitchen — suspended and demoted from sergeant last year after he was stabbed during a domestic dispute while on duty. Charges were not filed because neither party wanted to prosecute.
- Officer David Anderson — found innocent by a jury in January 2002 of a job-related assault and battery. The misdemeanor accusation stemmed from a November 2000 incident in which Anderson was accused of punching a handcuffed, seated suspect in the face without provocation.
- Former Detective Mel Jason Jordan — the department’s former second-ranking officer was suspended in 1998 after being arrested on a sex charge, stemming from an alleged on-the-job incident with a female police trainee. A jury later acquitted him. Jordan did plead guilty in 1999 to furnishing alcohol to a minor in the same incident and never worked as a police officer again.
Earlier in the 1990s, Jordan was twice prosecuted unsuccessfully for alleged crimes committed while on duty. Extortion and embezzlement charges relating to alleged police corruption in 1997 and 1998 were dismissed last March in exchange for Jordan’s guilty plea to a variety of drug-delivery and fleeing-police offenses committed in early 2000, after he left the force. A jury last March also convicted Jordan of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for a September 2001 incident with a 15-year-old girl. Jordan is now serving a prison sentence of 91⁄2 to 39 years for the drug and sex convictions.
Girl describes alleged sexual assault by cop
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 17, 2004
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The girl said she had known and trusted the police command officer, a family friend, since she was a baby and considered him her “godfather.”
So, the girl told jurors Wednesday, she was unprepared when — sometime around her 12th birthday in December 2001 — then-Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman allegedly tried to have sexual intercourse with her while she was an overnight guest in his home.
Wednesday was the first day of testimony in the 14th Circuit Court trial of Coleman, 42, of Muskegon Heights. Coleman was fired last year, several months after he was charged with the sexual offense and an unrelated bad-check felony, for which he faces trial June 29.
If convicted of the most serious charge — first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 — Coleman faces up to life in prison with the chance of parole. Jurors also will have the choice of an alternate charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. To get a first-degree conviction, prosecutors must prove the victim was sexually penetrated. A second-degree conviction requires only “sexual contact.”
Jurors Wednesday heard opening statements by lawyers for the prosecution and defense, and testimony from the alleged victim, now 14, among other witnesses. The girl was a friend of one of Coleman’s stepdaughters and was visiting her, with several other girls present, in a sleepover at Coleman’s home the night of the alleged incident.
The girl testified calmly, clearly and with little visible emotion for about an hour.
She said she had known Coleman “my whole life.” The girl said she had had no prior disagreements, arguments or bad experiences with the then-police sergeant or others in his family.
According to the girl’s account, Coleman’s stepdaughter called him at work the evening of the alleged incident. “(She) asked if I could spend the night, and could he get pizza on the way home,” the girl testified. The alleged victim said she also spoke with Coleman, who allegedly said not to tell anyone “whatever we do between you and me.” She said she didn’t know what he meant but said “OK.”
“I thought it was something special, a surprise for the kids or something,” she testified.
The girl testified she was asleep with other girls on a couch in the living room when Coleman returned home after his police shift, which ended at 10 p.m. “Phil Coleman woke me up,” she said. “He just tapped me on my shoulder and whispered in my ear to get up.” She said he was wearing only boxer shorts.
She said she went into Coleman’s bedroom without knowing why, and he picked her up and placed her on the bed on her back, her legs hanging over the side. She testified he took off her pants and panties but left her shirt on. She said Coleman stood beside the high bed and tried to have intercourse with her, asking her if she had ever done it before and saying he wouldn’t hurt her, the girl testified.
“I was just sitting there shaking and scared” and didn’t try to resist or say “no,” she testified.
She said Coleman tried for about five minutes but couldn’t penetrate her, then he turned to a dresser drawer to find something, turning his back to her. She said she then put her clothes back on and ran into the bathroom. She said Coleman made no attempt to stop her or molest her again. “He just asked me if I was done or finished....I didn’t say nothing, I just ran out.”
The girl said she was still scared and told no one about the incident that night. She stayed in the home — which required a key to unlock from the inside — overnight, falling asleep on the couch, she testified. She said she woke up the next morning in Coleman’s stepdaughters’ bedroom with the other girls, without remembering how she got there from the couch.
She said she told Coleman’s wife about the assault the next morning. “She just gave me a hug and a kiss on my forehead and said it’s going to be OK,” the girl testified, then took all the girls out to breakfast before returning the alleged victim to her home.
She said she told some girls about the alleged assault but no other adults — including her mother — until late in 2002, when a police colleague of Coleman’s talked to her mother about the allegations, at Coleman’s request, after Coleman heard what the girl had been telling friends. Social-service officials and the Michigan State Police then investigated the case, leading to Coleman’s arrest in January 2003.
The girl said she didn’t tell teachers or other adults about it because she was “scared (and) didn’t know how they would react to it,” and didn’t tell her mother because “she’d be sad, heartbroken. I didn’t know how she would handle it....I just wanted things to stay the same.”
Cross-examination by Coleman’s lawyer, Shon Cook, focused on inconsistencies between portions of the girl’s testimony, and what the girl allegedly told other people in 2002.
In his opening statement, Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Timothy Maat spelled out the case against Coleman. He stressed that the girl had no motive to lie about the sergeant, who was a close family friend.
“(She) has no reason to make this up whatsoever,” Maat told jurors. He said social workers and child advocates would testify it’s not unusual for children to conceal such an incident from their parents, not to scream or fight, and even to go back to the house where it happened, as the alleged victim did in later months, though she never spent the night again.
Jury in sex trial deliberating ex-cop’s fate
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 23, 2004
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What possible motive?
That’s one question facing jurors deliberating the fate of former Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, charged with trying to have intercourse with a 12-year-old girl at a sleepover in his home in December 2001.
The question was spun two different ways by the prosecutor and defense attorney in closing arguments Tuesday afternoon.
- For Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Timothy Maat, the issue was the unlikelihood of the al-leged victim, now 14, inventing the story. “(She) has no reason to make this up whatsoever,” Maat told jurors.
He said the only attention it could have drawn to the girl was unfavorable, and that neither she nor her mother had any grudge against Coleman — a longtime family friend the girl considered a “godfather.”
“This is a man she trusts,” Maat said of her mindset in December 2001. “He (was) a police officer.”
- Defense lawyer Shon Cook turned the question around — challenging jurors to explain why a veteran police officer would commit the act in a house with several other girls in it, during a 15- to 20-minute window while his wife was at a store buying furnace filters.
“Does that make any sense?” Cook said. “These things don’t happen in a crowded house.”
Both lawyers countered that they didn’t need to provide a motive to make their case — for the prosecution, a motive for Coleman to assault the girl; for the defense, a motive for the girl to lie about it.
Both attorneys also poked at inconsistencies in the stories of their opposing party. The alleged victim testified last week. Coleman did not testify, but jurors saw and heard him on videotape in an interview conducted by Michigan State Police Sgt. Gary Miles before Coleman’s arrest in January 2003.
The case went to the jury around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday. After about 45 minutes, jurors asked 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti for a transcript of the entire trial — which was impossible — and of Coleman’s police interview, which was provided.
When jurors at that point told the judge they didn’t expect to reach a verdict within the next hour or so, he sent them home at 5:30 p.m. and told them to return at 8:30 a.m. today.
Coleman, 42, of Muskegon Heights was fired from his job as a police command officer last year, several months after he was charged with the sex crime and an unrelated bad-check felony, for which he faces trial next week.
If convicted of the most serious count — first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 — Coleman faces up to life in prison with the chance of parole. Jurors also have the choice of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. To get a first-degree conviction, prosecutors must prove the victim was sexually penetrated at least slightly. A second-degree conviction requires only “sexual contact.”
The girl was a friend of one of Coleman’s stepdaughters and was visiting her, with several other girls present, in a sleepover the night of the alleged crime.
She testified June 16 that she was asleep with other girls on a couch in the living room when Coleman returned home after his police shift, which ended at 10 p.m. She said he woke her by tapping her shoulder and whispering in her ear to get up, then ledher into his bedroom, where he tried for about five minutes to sexually penetrate her but couldn’t.
Coleman denied the accusation in his police interview with Miles, and family members including his wife, daughter and stepdaughters testified in his defense at the trial.
The all-white jury is comprised of seven men and five women.
Coleman also faces trial next Tuesday on a charge of writing three nonsufficient funds checks within 10 days. The charge involves three checks totaling $1,600 that he allegedly cashed at a local supermarket in November 2002.
Jury still deliberating fate of former cop
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 24, 2004
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Muskegon County jurors this morning were continuing to deliberate the fate of former Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, charged with trying to have intercourse with a 12-year-old girl at a sleepover in his home in December 2001.
The case went to the jury around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday. Jurors deliberated about 45 minutes that day, then from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, minus a break for lunch — pizza ordered in. About 90 minutes of Wednesday’s deliberations consisted of the jurors’requested second viewing of a videotape of Coleman’s interview with Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Miles before Coleman’s arrest in January 2003.
Deliberations resumed at 8:30 a.m. today.
Coleman, 42, of Muskegon Heights was fired from his job as a police command officer last year, several months after he was charged with the sex crime and an unrelated bad-check felony, for which he faces trial next week.
Jury deliberating for third day in ex-cop’s trial
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 25, 2004
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Jurors judging a former police sergeant accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl began their third day of deliberations this morning, their attention plainly focused on the heart of the matter: deciding which of the two is lying.
The deliberation phase of the trial of former Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman was already unusual for its length.
It took another unusual turn late Thursday afternoon, when 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti went against his normal practice by granting the jury’s request for a written transcript of the alleged victim’s June 16 testimony.
Marietti said he almost always rejects such requests — which consume hours of the court reporter’s time — but made an exception here because it had been so long since jurors heard the girl testify; and because they had repeatedly read a transcript and seen a videotape of Coleman’s police interview before his January 2003 arrest.
“This case ... is a credibility contest, and it’s primarily a credibility contest between the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator,” Marietti said from the bench outside the jury’s presence, explaining his ruling.
“Under the unique circumstances of this case, I think it’s fair to have a transcript. ... If they don’t believe her, it’s over,” the judge said.
He told jurors that court reporter Kay M. Sommerfeld had “graciously” agreed to work late to prepare a transcript from her shorthand-machine notes.
Trial-watchers believed Thursday’s request meant jurors wanted a careful second look, in writing, to help them determine the now 14-year-old girl’s believability. Coleman’s defense has challenged it by pointing to inconsistencies in details between whatshe said at the trial, and what she reportedly told other people in the months after the alleged assault.
Jurors earlier in their deliberations, in three separate requests, had applied a similar microscope to Coleman’s recorded words. Although the 42-year-old ex-cop did not take the stand, prosecutors provided a transcript and played a video of his interview with State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Miles — also pointing to inconsistencies in details of Coleman’s statements. Coleman denied the girl’s allegation.
Near the very start of deliberations Tuesday, the jury asked for and received a copy of the transcript of Coleman’s interview, which they had already read during the trial while watching the video. Then, on Wednesday, they asked and were allowed to watch the 90-minute video for a second time. Finally, on Thursday they were granted 12 copies of the transcript, one for each juror.
It’s also unusual that jurors were still hard at it some six hours after they first reported to the judge — around 10:30 a.m. Thursday — that they were deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict. Marietti sent them back in to keep trying. That’stypical after a first “deadlock” report. But typically, a jury then either reaches a verdict, or again declares itself deadlocked, within a relatively short time.
Jury deliberation, typically a phase that takes less than a day in Muskegon County courts, in this case started late Tuesday afternoon, went on all day Wednesday and Thursday and was to resume at 9:30 a.m. today. Coleman faces alternative charges of first-degree or second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13.
He’s accused of trying to have sex with a friend of one of his stepdaughters while the girl was at Coleman’s home for a sleepover in December 2001. Coleman was fired from his police job last year, several months after his arrest in the sex case and an unrelated bad-check felony case.
Jury stalemated in sex trial for Heights ex-cop
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 26, 2004
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They may have set a record for trying — but in the end, Muskegon County jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in a child-sex case against a former police command officer.
Fourteenth Circuit Judge William C. Marietti declared a mistrial late Friday afternoon in the lengthy trial of Phillip E. Coleman, 42, who was a Muskegon Heights Police sergeant at the time of the alleged incident in December 2001. Coleman was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, with an alternative count of second-degree, which carries a lesser penalty.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said his office will try again to convict the fired ex-cop.
Jurors deliberated nearly three full days before giving up. One longtime local lawyer said it was Muskegon County’s longest jury deliberation “in anyone’s memory.”
The jury first went out about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, conferred about 45 minutes that day, then all of Wednesday, Thursday and most of Friday.
“I certainly can’t say you didn’t give it your level best, but it’s kind of like kissing somebody through a screen — we didn’t get anywhere,” Marietti told jurors before dismissing them.
Several jurors said the panel started out 9-3 in favor of conviction. Near the end of deliberations no formal votes were taken, but several jurors said the final split was 6-6, while others said it may have been 7-5 in favor of conviction.
Beyond that, most jurors refused to comment after leaving the jury room. One said, “It was a tough trial.”
Coleman and his attorney, Shon Cook, declined to comment. Neither the alleged victim nor her mother were in the courtroom.
Another trial appears a certainty.
“Clearly, the majority of jurors decided he was guilty,” Tague said. “My office will retry the case. Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly, but ultimately justice will prevail.”
Coleman also faces another trial before Marietti July 20 on an unrelated bad-check felony charge.
Coleman was fired from the Muskegon Heights Police Department last summer, several months after his January 2003 arrest on the sex charge and the bad-check case.
Jurors appeared to be focused on the core question of whom to believe — Coleman, or the girl he was accused of trying to have sex with while she was at a sleepover in his home with several other girls, including Coleman’s stepdaughter.
Jury deliberations were marked by repeated requests for more information, most of them granted by the judge: a transcript of Coleman’s interview with Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Miles; a second viewing of the videotape of that interview; then 12 copies of the interview transcript, one for each juror; finally, for the final day, written copies of the now 14-year-old alleged victim’s trial testimony — which had to be typed up by court reporter Kay M. Sommerfeld after hours Thursday from her shorthand notes.
Mistrial declared
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
June 27, 2004
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MUSKEGON HEIGHTS -- A judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of former police sergeant charged with criminal sexual conduct after a jury deliberated for nearly three days without reaching a verdict.
Phillip Coleman, 42, worked for the Muskegon Heights police department at the time of the alleged incident in December 2001 that involved a girl at his home. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in 2003 and was later fired.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said his office will try again to convict Coleman.
Coleman and his attorney declined to comment.
Bad-check charge dropped against former cop
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
July 20, 2004
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A felony bad-check case has been dropped against a former Muskegon Heights police sergeant who also faces an unrelated sex charge.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday dropped its charge of writing three nonsufficient fund checks within 10 days, which had been pending since January 2003 against Phillip E. Coleman, 42, of 3220 Mona.
The now-dismissed charge involved three checks totaling $1,600, all of them presented and cashed at a local supermarket in November 2002. The checks were written on the account of a business Coleman owned called “Secure One.”
The reason for the dismissal was a legal instruction the judge would have been required to make to jurors, to the effect that if the defendant believed the bank would honor the checks, he could not be convicted of the charge. That jury instruction couldhave made conviction difficult.
“We’re obviously very happy that they elected not to go forward with this,” said Coleman’s lawyer, Shon Cook. “He didn’t have any intent to defraud anybody.
“He had some bad recordkeeping, but he also had paid off these checks (the ones for which he was charged), and the bank had accepted that payment as they had in the past,” Cook said. “They were all paid.”
Coleman was a police sergeant at the time the checks were written. He was fired several months after his arrest on the bad-check charge and the sex case.
Coleman still faces a retrial Nov. 30 on the much more serious charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 13, a potential life felony, with an alternative count of second-degree, which carries a lesser penalty.
Muskegon County jurors last month could not reach a unanimous verdict in that case after nearly three full days of deliberation, and 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti declared a mistrial June 25.
Coleman is accused of trying to have sex with a girl while she was at a sleepover in his home with several other girls, including Coleman’s stepdaughter. The girl was 12 at the time of the alleged molestation in November 2001.
Prosecutor blames bank after dropping bad-check charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
July 21, 2004
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Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague is blaming “poor business practices” by a bank for his office’s inability to pursue a felony bad-check case against a former police sergeant.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday dropped its charge against Phillip E. Coleman, 42, of 3220 Mona, of writing three nonsufficient fund checks in 10 days.
The case had been pending since January 2003, when Coleman — then a Muskegon Heights command officer — was arrested on the bad-check charge and a still-pending charge of child molestation. He was fired several months after his arrest.
The now-dismissed case involved three checks totaling $1,600, all presented and cashed at a local supermarket in November 2002. The checks were written on the account of a business Coleman owned called “Secure One.”
Tague said the case had to be dropped because Coleman’s bank, Comerica Bank, previously had repeatedly covered his allegedly nonsufficient fund checks. That may have created an expectation by Coleman that the bank would continue to honor his checks — and that would have made him innocent of the charge under a legal instruction the judge would have been required to give the jury.
Coleman’s one-day trial in the bad-check case was scheduled for Tuesday.
“Because of poor business practices by the bank, we were stopped from being able to successfully prosecute it,” Prosecutor Tony Tague said. “Clearly, the officer realized he didn’t have funds to cover his checks, but the bank repeatedly covered his bad checks.
“Michigan law says if a bank covers bad checks for a period of time, that a prosecution is no longer viable,” Tague said.
Asked for a response to Tague’s statement, Comerica spokeswoman Kathleen Pitton said the bank could not comment on Coleman’s situation in particular, but in general, “We’re in the business of building relationships with our customers, and when an overdraft occurs, we’ll look at the overdraft and look at the situation. People do make mistakes.”
“I don’t think we should blame a bank and their business practices for not prosecuting a case,” said Coleman’s lawyer, Shon Cook, in response to Tague’s comments.
Earlier, Cook said, “We’re obviously very happy that they elected not to go forward with this. (Coleman) didn’t have any intent to defraud anybody.
“He had some bad recordkeeping, but he also had paid off these checks (the ones for which he was charged), and the bank had accepted that payment as they had in the past,” Cook said. “They were all paid.”
Here’s the legal instruction 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti would have had to read to jurors: “If the defendant knew when he wrote the check that he did not have enough money in the bank to cover it at the time, but had good reason to believe that the check would be paid when it was presented, then the defendant did not have the intent to defraud or cheat anyone, and you must find him not guilty.”
Coleman still faces a retrial Nov. 30 on the much more serious charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 13, a potential life felony, with an alternative count of second-degree, which carries a lesser penalty.
Muskegon County jurors last month could not reach a unanimous verdict in that case after nearly three full days of deliberation, and 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti declared a mistrial June 25.
Coleman is accused of trying to have sex with a girl while she was at a sleepover in his home with several other girls, including Coleman’s stepdaughter. The girl was 12 at the time of the alleged molestation in November 2001.
Former officer again faces trial on sex charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 1, 2004
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A former police command officer is back on trial for child molestation — three years after the alleged crime, more than five months after jurors in his first trial deadlocked.
Phillip E. Coleman, who turns 43 Friday, of Muskegon Heights faces alternative counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct or second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Coleman was a Muskegon Heights Police sergeant at the time of the alleged incident in December 2001.
As in the first trial, Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Timothy M. Maat faces defense attorney Shon Cook in a jury trial before 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti. Jury selection proceeded Tuesday, and lawyers’ opening statements were expected this morning.
At Coleman’s June trial, jurors deliberated nearly three full days before giving up — the longest Muskegon County jury deliberation in the memory of longtime local lawyers. After Marietti declared a mistrial, several jurors said the panel started out 9-3in favor of conviction and wound up either 6-6 or 7-5 in favor of conviction.
Coleman was fired from the police force in the summer of 2003, several months after his January 2003 arrest on the sex charge and an unrelated bad-check case that the prosecutor’s office later dismissed on a legal technicality.
Coleman is accused of trying to have sex with a then 12-year-old girl in his bedroom while she was at a sleepover in his home with his stepdaughter and several other girls. The alleged victim was a longtime family friend who considered Coleman a “godfather.”
Coleman didn’t testify at the first trial, but he denied the accusation in a videotaped interview with a State Police detective shortly before his arrest. The defense maintains the veteran police officer would not have committed such an act in a house with several other girls in it, during a 15- to 20-minute window while his wife was at a store buying furnace filters.
The alleged victim testified June 16 that she was asleep with other girls on a couch in the living room when Coleman returned home after his police shift, which ended at 10 p.m. She said he woke her by tapping her shoulder and whispering in her ear to get up, then led her into his bedroom, where he tried for about five minutes to sexually penetrate her but couldn’t.
Coleman’s family members, including his wife, daughter and stepdaughters, testified in his defense at the first trial.
Jury deciding fate of ex-cop in second child sex trial
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 9, 2004
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For the second time, the child molestation case against a former police command officer went to a Muskegon County jury this morning.
Deliberations were to begin in the retrial of Phillip E. Coleman, 43, of Muskegon Heights, charged with alternative counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct or second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Coleman was a Muskegon Heights Police sergeant atthe time of the alleged incident in December 2001.
Coleman’s first trial in June ended in a hung jury after nearly three full days of deliberation.
Coleman was fired from the police force in the summer of 2003, several months after his January 2003 arrest on the sex charge and an unrelated bad-check case that the prosecutor’s office later dismissed on a legal technicality.
Coleman is accused of trying to have sex with a then 12-year-old girl in his bedroom while she was at a sleepover in his home with his stepdaughter and several other girls. The alleged victim was a longtime family friend who considered Coleman a “godfather.”
The girl, now nearly 15, testified that she was asleep with other girls on a couch in the living room when Coleman returned home after his police shift, which ended at 10 p.m. She said he woke her by tapping her shoulder and whispering in her ear to getup, then led her into his bedroom, where he tried for several minutes to have sexual intercourse with her but couldn’t.
Defense lawyer Shon A. Cook argued the veteran police officer would not have committed such an act in a house with several other girls in it, during a 15- to 20-minute period while his wife was at a store buying furnace filters.
Coleman didn’t testify at either trial, but he denied the accusation in a videotaped interview with state police Detective Sgt. Gary Miles in September 2002, after authorities learned of the girl’s accusation. Jurors in both trials were shown the videotape.
Cook and Senior Assistant Prosecutor Timothy M. Maat summed up their cases in closing arguments late Wednesday.
Fired police sergeant guilty of sex assault
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 10, 2004
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Still insisting on his innocence, tearful after courtroom hugs with weeping family members, former Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman went straight to jail Thursday after his conviction on first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child.
A Muskegon County jury took more than six hours to find the fired ex-cop guilty, reaching its verdict around 4:40 p.m. It was Coleman’s second trial on the same charge; another jury last June could not reach a unanimous decision after three days of deliberating.
The conviction sparked a war of words — via separate comments to a Chronicle reporter — between two high-profile law-enforcement officials who have long been at odds: Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague and Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr.
Tague blasted Smith as allegedly “supporting law violators” who worked for his police department, including Coleman. The chief, contacted later for a response, called Tague a “bigot” who has tried to undermine Smith for years because the prosecutor can’t control him.
Coleman, 43, was a police command officer at the time of the December 2001 incident of which he was convicted: trying to have sexual intercourse with a then 12-year-old girl in his bedroom while she was at a sleepover in his home with his stepdaughter and several other girls. The victim was a longtime family friend who considered Coleman a “godfather.”
Circuit Judge William C. Marietti scheduled sentencing for Jan. 11. State guidelines may indicate a minimum prison sentence of around 11 years, prosecutors said.
Coleman has been free on 10 percent of $5,000 bond since shortly after his January 2003 arrest. After his conviction, there was a tense interplay lasting at least 15 minutes between his lawyer, Shon Anne Cook, and a squadron of attorneys from the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office over whether Marietti was required to revoke Coleman’s bond and send him immediately to jail pending sentencing.
As the dispute went on, the office’s top prosecutors showed up to watch or participate, including Tague and his chief assistant, Brett H. Gardner.
The trial prosecutor, Timothy M. Maat, argued that Coleman was a danger to children and — with prison now a certainty — a flight risk who had to be locked up at once.
Cook responded that no allegations of sexual misconduct in the past three years had been made against Coleman, and that he had always shown up for court dates.
In the end, prosecutors found a clause in Michigan law that Marietti interpreted to mean he had no choice in a conviction such as Coleman’s — first-degree CSC with a child — but to lock him up before sentencing.
Coleman and his family members, who almost filled the courtroom, appeared stunned and distraught after the verdict. The ex-cop hung and slowly shook his head repeatedly with his hand covering his mouth. Several women wept quietly.
After Marietti’s jail order, the sheriff’s deputies guarding Coleman allowed him to hug several family members before they led him out of the courtroom.
As deputies finally led him through Marietti’s outer office toward the Muskegon County Jail elevators, Coleman stopped to answer a Chronicle reporter’s questions.
“I never imagined there was this type of justice in America,” Coleman said. “I respect the law. I’ve been a law-abiding citizen all my life. I never harmed a kid in my life. I have eight children, (many) grandchildren.
“I said it before: I’m an innocent man, living every man’s nightmare,” Coleman said.
Tague took the opposite view.
“We’ve taken a child predator off the streets today. My office will seek a lengthy prison sentence,” Tague said. “A young, innocent girl paid a heavy price, and we want to ensure that pedophiles are behind prison walls and not out doing harm in the community.”
The prosecutor also blasted chief Smith, although Smith fired Coleman in the summer of 2003 for conduct unbecoming an officer — citing an unrelated check-kiting scheme for which Coleman had also been criminally charged. Those criminal charges were dropped on a legal technicality earlier this year, but the documentation of Coleman’s bad checks was enough to terminate his employment even without a conviction.
“We’ve now convicted almost half a dozen former Muskegon Heights officers,” Tague said. “I think it’s time for the Muskegon Heights City Council to take a look at the leadership in the department. It should be the chief’s job to keep officers in line, not the county prosecutor’s.
“There are a lot of good police officers in Muskegon Heights, and they deserve better, as well as the citizens,” Tague said. “The chief should either do his job and quit supporting law violators, or step aside and allow someone (to take over) who will dothe job.”
Other Muskegon Heights officers or ex-officers convicted of various crimes since 2001 have been Sgt. George Hubbard, Officer Neil Siebert and ex-Detective Sgt. Mel Jordan. Another officer was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery of a handcuffed prisoner but was acquitted in a jury trial.
In Coleman’s case, Tague noted that Smith was called as a defense witness at the sex retrial.
Smith responded later that he’s the one who reported the victim’s allegations against Coleman to the Michigan State Police. He said Coleman’s lawyer subpoenaed him only to testify that Coleman was the one who first reported the girl’s allegations to a fellow Muskegon Heights command officer, after hearing she was talking about them to friends nine months after the incident.
“This case on Phil Coleman was taken to the state police by Chief George Smith Jr.,” Smith said. “It came from inside this department, not outside.
“I think Tony Tague is an out-and-out bigot, and he has labored hard to get me removed from this position ever since I’ve been here (because) he has no control over me,” Smith said.
“I represent the citizens of Muskegon Heights. My police officers are hard-working officers. Some of them made some bad decisions. None of them have been convictions for actions as officers of the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
“He’s taken these individual cases of misbehavior outside their jobs, and tried to paint that as corruption or mismanagement by the Muskegon Heights Police Department. That’s disgusting.”
Ex-cop avows innocence, sentenced on sex charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
January 13, 2005
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Weeping and still protesting his innocence, a fired Muskegon Heights police command officer was sentenced to prison Wednesday for his conviction of sexually molesting a 12-year-old girl in his home three years ago.
Former Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, 43, of Muskegon Heights got a sentence of four years eight months to 20 years, with credit for the 35 days he had served in jail since a jury convicted him last month of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13.
Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti pronounced the sentence to a courtroom containing dozens of Coleman family, friends and supporters. Many wept as Coleman made a tearful statement to the judge before sentencing, insisting he was innocent and citing his record of military and police service and of “helping people.”
Coleman said afterward that he intends to appeal his conviction.
A jury last month convicted Coleman of trying to have sexual intercourse with a friend of his stepdaughter’s who was staying at Coleman’s home for a slumber party in December 2001.
Marietti followed his usual practice of imposing a minimum sentence at the midpoint of state sentencing guidelines, which called for a minimum term of between 3 1/2 years and five years 10 months. The judge used his discretion on the maximum end because first-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by up to life in prison; most felonies have a maximum prison term set by law.
Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Timothy Maat argued unsuccessfully for a minimum term higher than the guidelines called for, which is allowed if a judge cites “substantial and compelling reasons.” Maat also asked for maximum sentence of 50 years.
Among other factors, Maat cited Coleman’s standing as a police command officer at the time of the crime. “The defendant was (granted) a great deal of public trust as a police officer,” Maat said. “This was a violation not only against the victim, but against the community at large.”
He called Coleman’s protestations that he was wrongfully convicted a sign of lack of remorse calling for a stricter sentence. “The defendant continues to maintain this charade that he is a wrongfully convicted man. He is rightfully convicted,” Maat said. “It says volumes about his character that he is deceiving these people,” a reference to Coleman’s supporters in the courtroom and the many who wrote letters to the judge insisting on his innocence.
The prosecutor also read aloud letters to the judge from the victim and her mother. The girl, now 15, wrote that she used to have a good relationship with Coleman and his family. “I loved him and his family to death ... (since then,) my life has been hell,” she wrote, saying she used to suffer from nightmares and no longer feels safe around men.
Earlier, in a broken voice, Coleman made his own statement to the judge. Shackled and wearing jail blues, the gaunt-looking defendant — who tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds at the time of the incident — denied any wrongdoing.
“I always thought justice means (in part) ... making sure we’re not prosecuting the innocent,” Coleman said. “The court should seek justice.
“I’ve never hurt anyone. I’ve been shot at. I’ve saved people from burning buildings. I’ve always tried to help people in every way... My life has been ruined, sir, and I have to deal with that. But what hurts me more is ruining the life of my family.”
His lawyer, Shon Anne Cook, also continued to argue for her client’s innocence.
“Just because a jury says that someone is guilty, that does not necessarily mean that that is a fact,” she said. Cook cited cases in which a convicted defendant has been proven innocent later.
In a written statement to The Chronicle, Cook said, “I remain stunned by this verdict. It is amazing how little evidence it takes to convict someone of these types of allegations ... All we have is a neighbor child, who had stayed at the house dozens of times before, saying this happened. ...
“Every man should be incredibly concerned about neighbor children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren being in their home unsupervised every minute,” Cook wrote. “That is how big the problem is, how serious it has become.”
Marietti said little in pronouncing sentence and expressed no opinion on Coleman’s guilt or innocence, instead merely stating what he considered to be his legal duty: imposing a prison sentence within state sentencing guidelines.
“The court is not here to either second-guess the jury’s decision — this was a jury trial, not a bench trial — ... nor to second-guess the Legislature,” Marietti said. “There are no substantial and compelling reasons to exceed guidelines.”
A Muskegon County jury took more than six hours to find the fired cop guilty Dec. 9. It was Coleman’s second trial on the same charge; another jury last June could not reach a unanimous decision after three days of deliberating.
Coleman was an off-duty police command officer at the time of the incident of which he was convicted. The victim was a longtime family friend who considered Coleman a “godfather.”
Police Chief George Smith Jr. fired Coleman in the summer of 2003 for conduct unbecoming an officer, citing an unrelated check-kiting scheme for which Coleman had also been criminally charged. Those criminal charges were dropped on a legal technicality last year, but the documentation of Coleman’s bad checks was enough to terminate his employment even without a conviction.
Former Muskegon Heights Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman - Conviction Affirmed
Michigan Court Of Appeals
Opinion
September 14, 2006
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