

According to the suit, police received a tip that Coffee had 14 grams of cocaine in his home before 20 officers arrived and deployed a “flash bang’ through the front door of the home. Yolanda Woods, Woods’ mother, filed a lawsuit in January 2021 in federal court against the deputies who carried out the raid. “We knew there was going to be an issue by the possession of the firearm by a convicted felon because that’s why we stipulated that he was in possession and stipulated he was a convicted felon, but we were hoping for the duress and necessity and self-defense on that,” she said. Coffee’s attorney Julia Graves shared plans to appeal the verdict. He faces up to 30 years in prison for the offense. The jury did find Coffee guilty on Friday of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a felon. Walker faced criminal charges in connection with the raid, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, but a judge dismissed those charges permanently in March. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker also fired at police, whom he said he thought were intruders. The case has drawn comparisons to the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Kentucky officers last year as they executed a no-knock warrant on her home. A grand jury did not indict the deputies who opened fire on the home. When police fired into the home, Woods was struck by gunfire 10 times and died. But police say they did announce themselves and only returned fire after Coffee fired a weapon several times out of the window. Coffee said he spotted a rifle pointing through an open bedroom window and thought he was being robbed because the police didn’t make their presence known.
