NC NC - Neely Smith, 5, Charlotte, 18 Feb 1981

[KarlK]

It is one thing to set an innocent man free, but quite another to get a serial child killer off death row and up for parole every year.

But yet from a defense attorney's perspective such a feat would impress his peers. One must be careful not to assimilate a monster's defender to being one him/herself. Even when it involves the most unsavory cases a defense attorney's role is a crucial element of our justice system and by declining to fulfill his duties -get the best possible deal for his client regardless of what said client is charged with or has been convicted of- an attorney would be betraying the Constitution and failing the justice system. It takes guts to defend someone everyone else wants to lynch on the spot, especially on a public defender's fee (most pervert killers aren't rich) especially considering the public resentment such a case is bound to attract that will be directed to the monster's attorney who often despises his client just as strongly as everyone else but can't allow himself the luxury of expressing his sentiment. Like the saying goes it's a dirty job but someone has to do it.

And no, I'm not a lawyer myself, in fact I usually don't trust them much (my ex-wife was an attorney). But working with scum because it's one's duty does not make one scum, even the worst Nazi war criminals had defense attorney's appointed to defend them at Nuremberg, and some did an impressive job since not all of the accused were sentenced to death, an astonishing accomplishment considering the unspeakably heinous nature of the crimes their clients were charged with.

This man having defended a child killer should not weigh in any peer recognition of his accomplishments.

 

[Richard]

...One must be careful not to assimilate a monster's defender to being one him/herself. Even when it involves the most unsavory cases a defense attorney's role is a crucial element of our justice system and by declining to fulfill his duties -get the best possible deal for his client regardless of what said client is charged with or has been convicted of- an attorney would be betraying the Constitution and failing the justice system. ... This man having defended a child killer should not weigh in any peer recognition of his accomplishments.

Well said. Actually, I don't think Fred Coffey's lawyer was a public defender, but rather a high-priced lawyer hired by his family.

It is a lawyer's job to put his client in the best light and get for him the best deal possible within the legal system (flawed though it may be at times).

In a strange way, Fred Coffey's lawyer may have served many other legal jurisdictions when Coffey was taken off death row. Evidence linking him to other cases of murdered children could open the way for continued legal action that might get this Serial Child Rapist and Murderer to admit his other crimes to avoid another death penalty.

That possibility would not exist today had Fred's first or second death sentence been carried out.

 

[Lurker]

Was he ever tried for the little boys murder?

 

[Richard]

Was he ever tried for the little boys murder?

To my knowledge there has been no trial at this date. A year and a half ago, Bristol, VA prosecutors were talking about charging Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. with the abduction and murder of Travis Shane King. I do not know the current status of their progress.

North Carolina Authorities were also considering charging Coffey with the murder of Neely Smith, as stated earlier in this thread. I do not know the status of that either.

 

[KarlK]

In a strange way, Fred Coffey's lawyer may have served many other legal jurisdictions when Coffey was taken off death row. Evidence linking him to other cases of murdered children could open the way for continued legal action that might get this Serial Child Rapist and Murderer to admit his other crimes to avoid another death penalty.

That possibility would not exist today had Fred's first or second death sentence been carried out.

I agree, the last thing I would want if I was a relative of a victim would be to see the main suspect executed for another crime before he could stand trial for the murder of my relative. Otherwise I would always keep wondering if the man who was executed was actually the one who committed "my" murder and, even worse, I would have to live with the suspicion that maybe the real killer was still walking free. There would be no real closure.

 

[Jeb]

If Coffey is ever sentenced to death again, I'd like to see that expensive lawyer (who got him off death row, for personal gain) setting on Coffeys' lap, when they throw the switch!

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up.

Fred Coffey comes up for Parole again this July - for the 14th time since his death sentence was overturned.

Feel free to contact the North Carolina Parole board with your thoughts and comments.

 

[Richard]

Bumping case up. It would be nice to know what other evidence was obtained from Coffey's van when police processed it in 1986.

 

[SerenaWelsh]

Still poking around this thread after all these years.
Is there anything new from Bristol or Charlotte?

 

[carole]

The following link is an update on Amanda Ray's mother. She was was murdered by Fred Coffey 2 years before Neely. The article appeared in the Sunday, July 19, 2009 edition of the Charlotte Observer.

It tells of Fred Coffey's next parole hearing on July 21, 2009 - next week. He will not be eligible for parole again until 2012.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/165/story/840850.html

 

[Richard]

Fred Coffey's Parole Hearing was today. He has been up for parole every year since his death sentence was overturned in 1995.

 

[Richard]

Bumping case up. The prime suspect, Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is still in Prison in North Carolina. His most recent attempt to get paroled was turned down last July. He will now have to wait three years before coming up for parole again.

 

[Richard]

Here is an example of the legal gobbledy gook that courts use to waste tax payer's money and to get criminals off the hook.

Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. had been convicted of the murder of Amanda Ray, age 10 and was sentenced to death. The prosecution in presenting the case for the death penalty, introduced all of his previous convictions, including convictions for molesting three children a total of nine times.

The appeals court decided (as stated below) that they considered indecent liberties with children to be "no significant history of prior criminal history".

Also, that since the nine charges of child molestation which occurred in 1986 were committed AFTER Amanda's murder, that they should not have been considered in choosing an appropriate sentence, which was death. On a second sentencing the Death penalty was again awarded. On a third sentencing in 1995, because only 10 of 12 jurors voted for death, Coffey was awarded a Life Sentence with immediate elligibility for parole.

Below is some of the wording of the appeals court majority decision. You can read the entire document at the link below.

The court, over defendant's objection, instructed the
jury on the mitigating circumstance of no significant history of
prior criminal history as follows:
You may find this mitigating circumstance if
you find that an episode of masturbation and
convictions for indecent liberties and
indecent exposure do not constitute a
significant history of prior criminal
activity.

The trial court in no way restricted the jury's
consideration of defendant's history of criminal activity to his
criminal activity before the killing of Amanda Ray. Based on the
presentation of evidence, the State's arguments, and the jury
instruction, the jury almost certainly considered, improperly,
defendant's entire criminal history in determining whether the
statutory mitigating circumstance of no significant history of
prior criminal activity existed. This error entitles defendant
to a new sentencing proceeding. N.C.G.S. 15A-1443(a).
NEW SENTENCING PROCEEDING.

LINK : http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/nc-supreme-court/jun1794/coffey

 

[ashesofangels]

so i am the 3 year old referenced in the case prior to the murder. i do not remember the incident, only what my mom told me of it. i do think i have some other information that may have some bearing on this case. does anyone know how i can get in touch with the d.a. in charge now?

 

[Richard]

so i am the 3 year old referenced in the case prior to the murder. i do not remember the incident, only what my mom told me of it. i do think i have some other information that may have some bearing on this case. does anyone know how i can get in touch with the d.a. in charge now?

Welcome to Websleuths.

The specific District Attorney that you need to speak with would be the one for the jurisdiction in which the crime took place. There may be a statute of limitations which would prevent criminal charges from being made, but you might be able to pursue the issue in civil court.

Mr. Coffey has been charged and prosecuted in a number of different jurisdictions in the past. He is also a suspect in a number of unsolved child disappearances and murders.

Your information/testimony might be of great value to a DA in preparing for a case against him for other crimes against children. For example, there have been recent attempts to charge Mr. Coffey in the abduction and murder of Neely Smith (age 5) in Charlotte, North Carolina and for the murder of Travis Shane King (age 8) in Bristol, Virginia. He has also been under investigation for the disappearance of Sheila and Katherine Lyon of Kensington, Maryland (see featured case on them in Websleuths).

If you send me a PM via websleuths, I will attempt to get you more specific information as to who to contact.

 

[Richard]

It has been 30 years since little Neely Smith was abducted and killed. Her likely killer was one Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. but he has never been taken to trial for her murder.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this case up. Neely Smith's murder remains officially unsolved. The most likely perpetrator is Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. who resides in Pender Prison, Burgaw, NC. He will be up for parole again in July 2012.

 

[JeannieC]

Fred Coffey should never be allowed to be a free man again. He is a cold blooded murderer and deserves the DP for his crimes. I hope and pray everyone will write the parole board or sign petitions against him being granted parolee.

Coffey can not be reformed!

May he die in jail!

 

[Richard]

Here is a very long and well written article about Travis Shane King and Fred Coffey. It includes mention of Neely Smith and Amanda Ray as well.

---------------------------------
BURDENS OF PROOF: File still open on Travis Shane King

By: CLAIRE GALOFARO
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
July 11, 2011

BRISTOL, Va. -- For 25 years, Rozesetta Miller has laid down each night, put her hand over her mouth and held her breath – wondering how long it might take her to die that way. She hoped a stroke five years ago might make her forget to wonder what her 8-year-old grandson’s last words might have been; if he suffered; whether he cried for his mamaw.
“That little face – I just can’t forget it,” Miller said. “It’s been hell, pure hell. I remember the day, the time. It was a quarter after 10 when they found him.”

On Aug. 21, 1986, Travis Shane King followed a man with a metal detector from Eastridge Apartments, where he lived with his mother and Miller, as he headed into the woods. The boy’s body was found the next night – strangled and dumped near a rural Sullivan County lake....

... There is only one suspect: a Bristol-born convicted child killer and serial molester.

“He bounced around his whole life. And wherever he was, kids ended up dead,” said Bristol Virginia Police Sgt. Steve Crawford, part of the third generation of detectives to inherit the case.

Fred Howard Coffey, 66, is in prison six hours away for murdering a 10-year-old North Carolina girl seven years before Shane was killed. Coffey is suspected of killing others – maybe one little girl, maybe more – and reportedly confessed to molesting 100 kids...

Much more at link:


http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011...file-still-open-travis-shane-king-ar-1164205/

 

[JeannieC]

With all my heart I hope and pray Coffey never sees freedom again. Neely, Amanda, Travis, and all the others he molested and murdered deserve justice. Coffey deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars. If he gets out he will murder again.

I urge everyone to write the parole board. Let them know you do not want this man to ever be on the streets again. He can't do anything in prison to earn his freedom. Coffey will moleste and murder again. There is no rehabilitation for a man like him.

moo