WA Man Sentenced To 3.5 Years For Accident He Didn’t Cause

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A man from Washington State is being sent to prison for 41 months for involvement in a collision he was not at fault for. John Coleman posted the following status to his Facebook page under the name Mattathias Paul-Ben Israel. Since the original sentencing John Coleman legally changed his name to Mattathias Israel.

Coleman has already served the first 7 months of his sentence, and was released on bail to file an appeal. This process costed him thousands of dollars and he lost his appeal, leaving him to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Court records show that the accident Coleman was involved in resulted in a fatality. However Coleman was not at fault for the accident. The driver who was at fault left the scene immediately, and was charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, as well as hit and run. John Coleman was charged with a hit and run that resulted in a death, even though he was a victim, and received an identical sentence.

Coleman was driving in Seattle in a compact Saturn when he was struck by a female driver. Coleman states a passenger in her car was ejected through the sun roof, and died immediately at the scene. The driver of the car took off on foot, while Coleman waited for the ambulance to arrive. At the time the ambulance arrived to address the victim, the other driver was gone and there were no police on scene. At that time Coleman left the scene.

According to court documents, Coleman was cooperative and worked with police in the days following the accident. However he was charged with with a hit and run that resulted in a death, even though he was the one who was hit. In other words, Coleman was being charged for an accident that caused a death which he was not at fault for.

Coleman’s attorney argued that this charge was the very quintessence of a technical violation. Coleman stayed on the scene long enough for medical attention to arrive, which is more than what other witnesses did. The only difference between Coleman and other witnesses on scene was that he lost a car out of the deal.

Coleman states the technicality that nabbed him, as charged by King County Prosecutor Brad Bales, was that he did not exchange information with the driver of the other vehicle or police, none of which were on scene, even though Coleman cooperated with police in the days following.

This sentence, unjust as it is, affects more people than just John Coleman.

John Coleman has a son, who will be spending time in a critical point in his life without his father. Coleman also has a baby girl on the way due in July. Incarcerating Coleman for this kind of time will have him missing out on the younger years of his childrens’ lives, as well as his children spending those years without a father figure to guide them. It leaves his wife without a provider for the family. The thought of unnecessarily taking that away is unfathomable.

But why this length of time? Doesn’t this seem excessive? Yes, it does, and we have mandatory minimum sentencing to thank for that.

The sentencing court stuttered that they didn’t have the authority to go below 41 months. This has to do with a point system that Washington State has for their criminal justice system. In other words, because Coleman had a record from a decade ago when he was 18 or 19 years old, that would compel serving even more time, simply because he’s already paid his dues from his past. This is double jeopardy, to tack on extra sentencing in light of debt you’ve already paid to society. Because of this, he is serving a sentence near to that of Ms Pa, who actually caused the accident that resulted on the death, and fled the scene.

This is exactly why sitting senators like Rand Paul from Kentucky have called for an end to Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, echoed by current U.S. Senate Candidates such as Austin Petersen from Missouri. John Coleman claims this harsh sentencing is being handed down by the state because he is black. I believe him, especially with the disproportion of our current criminal justice enforcement, such as in the war on drugs.

If you want to help John Coleman’s family during this time, he has a baby registry on Amazon. Please consider assisting them with a much needed gift. Click Here to view the registry.

A GoFundMe has also been set up which can be viewed here.