Bridgeport West Virginia man sentenced to 25 to 100 years for sex crimes against child

A jury of seven women and five men had deliberated just 23 minutes on Feb. 25 before convicting Coleman. His sentencing was postponed in part due the pandemic.

Several letters were written to the court on behalf of the victim, while several other people wrote letters of support on behalf of Coleman. Multiple family members also took the stand Wednesday to praise Coleman for his love of and commitment to family and his work ethic.

Harrison County Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Roberts had sought the maximum possible sentence of 35 to 120 years imprisonment. That would have been obtained by Harrison Circuit Judge Chris McCarthy imposing consecutive sentences for Coleman’s two felony sex crime convictions. Roberts also requested a supervised release term of 40 years.

Harrison Public Defender Susan Morris requested a 7-year probationary term. She cited Coleman’s family support, his lack of prior criminal history, his work history that included service in the National Guard and what she deemed a favorable sex offender risk evaluation. Morris made no recommendation on supervised release.

Coleman also sought “mercy” from the court. He gave a lengthy statement in which he said he couldn’t remember whether he had done anything, due to his consumption of alcohol. He also said he had been experimenting for the first time that day with LSD and was hallucinating. In 2014, he began attending church regularly and put his excessive drinking and drug use in the past, Coleman said during his allocution, which was sprinkled with Bible verses.

McCarthy imposed concurrent sentences, which gave Coleman the effective term of 25 to 100 years, and also opted for the supervised release term of a quarter of a century.

The judge ruled out probation, citing the serious nature of the allegations: “There are very few crimes that are more serious than crimes where our children are the victims.”

Coleman had denied wrongdoing during the trial, which was different than what he said Wednesday about not being able to recall what happened due to a drug-induced state, McCarthy indicated.

“I’m not sure what that is,” McCarthy said, “but it’s not consistent to what was provided at trial.”

And Coleman had shown no remorse or empathy toward his victim, McCarthy said.

Coleman has credit for 212 days served in jail while awaiting sentencing. He first would be eligible for parole when he turns 65; if he never makes parole, he could discharge the sentence at age 90 through maximum good behavior credit.

Because he took the case to trial, Coleman has full rights to appeal and is expected to exercise them. Morris indicated one point of attack might be the short amount of time the jury deliberated.

Before sentencing Coleman, McCarthy denied defense motions for post-judgment verdict of acquittal and for a new trial.

McCarthy also imposed mandatory minimum fines totaling $5,500.