An Arizona man’s first degree murder charge will not be considered by the Illinois Supreme Court. The court will not consider an appeal of the 2015 murder conviction of 33 year old Joseph M Coffman of Fort McDowell, Arizona in the stabbing death of his half-brother 47 year old Dennis S. Coffman of Petersburg.
Pike and Adams county deputies found the two men in a pickup truck on I-72 in Illinois just past the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge near Hannibal, Missouri, shortly before 1 a.m. On July 19th, 2014. The elder Coffman had multiple stab wounds and was rushed to Hannibal Regional Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The two men, according to testimony, got into an argument about a family situation that turned violent.
Then-Pike County State’s Attorney Matt Goetten filed the first degree murder charges and a jury found Coffman guilty in October 2015 and sentenced him to 45 years in prison. In July 2019, The Fourth District Appellate Court of Illinois denied Coffman’s appeal of the conviction, The conviction was then appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Zachary Boren, who helped to prosecute the case and is the current Pike County State’s Attorney, told Quincy’s KHQA he received the denial to hear the appeal on New Year’s Eve. Boren told KHQA that additional appeal options, including post-conviction petitions, remain available. In Illinois, those convicted of first degree murder must serve one hundred percent of the sentence.