Craigslist murder trial ends with guilty verdict, life sentence

The Willow Grove man accused of using Craigslist ads to set up victims in armed robberies - including the fatal 2013 shooting of a South Jersey man who had gone to West Oak Lane to buy an all-terrain vehicle - was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder.

Thomas Coffee insisted he was innocent as Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson immediately sentenced him to the mandatory life in prison without parole for the June 21, 2013, slaying of Daniel Cook, 27.

"I understand everything that happened," said Coffee, 25, voice barely audible and on the verge of tears. "And I'm not saying I'm no good guy, but I didn't have anything to do with this at all."

Coffee accused the judge and Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea of an unfair trial, and said one juror knew him.

Bronson, however, told Coffee he had questioned the juror.

"You may have known her, but she insisted she did not know you," the judge told him, adding: "The evidence of your guilt, your culpability, was overwhelming."

Coffee testified in his defense during the five-day trial, blaming Cook's slaying on a biking buddy he knew only as "Stead."

Defense attorney Evan T.L. Hughes said he would file notices of appeal for Coffee but was not sure whether he would handle the appeals.

The jury of seven women and five men had deliberated about five hours since Monday afternoon before announcing its verdict.

Coffee's mother and several other relatives sat weeping in the gallery.

"The jury made the right call," said Lisa Cook, the victim's mother. "Justice was done for my son. Now [Coffee will] never be able to hurt anyone else."

Cook, accompanied by fiancee Jessica Davis and friend Daniel Fortunato, drove from Williamstown, Gloucester County, and arrived shortly before 11 p.m. at Hollis Street and Walnut Lane in West Oak Lane, the site of Coffee's former home.

There Cook expected to pick up a bright blue Yamaha Banshee ATV he had agreed to trade with Coffee for $1,000 and a PlayStation 3 console.

Davis and Fortunato testified that they watched Cook disappear around a corner with a tall, lanky man sitting on the front steps of a house on Hollis. Moments later they heard gunshots and found Cook lying dead, his pants pockets turned inside out. He had been shot in the back.

Coffee testified that he tired of waiting for Cook, and left Stead - the owner of the ATV - to consummate the trade. Coffee said Stead later told him about shooting Cook.

But the jury was apparently swayed by victims' identifications of Coffee from photo arrays, and evidence found hidden in the bedroom of his Willow Grove home: a .40-caliber cartridge that matched shell casings from the gun that killed Cook and a cellphone taken from the victim of another armed robbery.

Coffee said police must have planted the evidence.

The jury also found Coffee guilty of armed robbery and related charges in two other robberies in June 2013 of victims lured through Craigslist ads and the armed robbery of a teenager walking home in Oxford Circle.

Bronson sentenced Coffee to a consecutive 50 to 100 years in prison for the three other armed robberies, and ordered restitution of $7,900 to Cook's family for funeral costs.