A former Granville County deputy was convicted Thursday of 12 counts of obstruction of justice for falsifying years of firearms training records. However, a jury acquitted him of 12 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses.
He'll serve five months behind bars and then 24 months under supervised release.
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In court, Chad Coffey didn’t dispute he falsified years of firearms training records, but his attorneys argued it wasn’t a crime.
Prosecutors disagreed. "Nobody is above the law. No one," Wake County Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Pomeroy said during Thursday’s court hearing. Prosecutors argued the case against Coffey is bigger than paperwork.
On the stand, Coffey admitted he falsified records for the Granville sheriff and chief deputy without putting them through formal testing.
Former Granville Sheriff Brindell Wilkins testified he ordered Coffey to do it, thinking it was no big deal to fudge documents for experienced shooters.
"Not every lie is a crime," said defense attorney Hart Miles. "Is this a fair way to deal with law enforcement training issues?" Hart asked when considering the number of criminal charges.
Hart called the case prosecutor "overreach," contending Coffey simply did what he was told to do without criminal intent.
"Do you really believe that he would have signed off on this directive if he thought he was intentionally committing 24 felonies?" he asked the jury.
While the current trial is part of a much larger corruption case that also involved the former sheriff, prosecutors don’t agree.
"You knew what you were doing was wrong. You knew you were committing a crime," Pomeroy told Coffey. "Don’t come in here and tell us you didn’t know of that. You just don’t like what the punishment is."
In closing arguments, Pomeroy said the case was about trust. "We expect our law enforcement to act with honor and honesty. And the only thing he has given us is excuses," she said.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman added, "This is a sad day for the criminal justice system. A culture developed (in the Granville Sheriff's Office) that they were above the law."
"I do not think you are a bad person ... but, there was a pervasive belief that rules did not apply," Judge Allen Baddour told Coffey. "That just can't be the way the system works."
The criminal case for the firearm training documents is taking place in Wake County because that’s where the certification board is located. Coffey and others will face a jury in Granville County on corruption charges linked to the department’s drug unit.