Public January 6 profile · ready to claim
Lonnie Leroy Coffman
Vietnam veteran and January 6 defendant
Lonnie Leroy Coffman is a U.S. Army veteran from Falkville, Alabama who served multiple combat tours in Vietnam. Start there. Everything else comes after. Lonnie Coffman was 71 years old on January 6, 2021, and he had already given this country years of his life in uniform. Multiple tours in Vietnam. Courthouse News, WUSA9 and CBS News all identify him the same way: an Army veteran. (FACT: Courthouse News Service, WUSA9, CBS News) One fact gets buried every time this case is written up, so put it up front. Lonnie Coffman did not enter the U.S. Capitol. He did not take part in the assault on the building. He parked his truck roughly a half-mile away and was arrested that afternoon when he walked back to it. (FACT: Patch, Alabama Today, DOJ) What he was charged with was what was in and around that vehicle and later at his Alabama home. He was charged and convicted on registration and licensing offenses, not on anything he did inside the Capitol, because he was never inside it. The legal fight. Lonnie Leroy Coffman was taken into custody January 6, 2021 and held pending trial from January 12, 2021 onward. A judge declined to revisit his detention in May 2021. He pleaded guilty on November 12, 2021 to two federal destructive-device registration counts and one D.C. pistol-license count. On April 1, 2022 he was sentenced to concurrent terms topped by 46 months, plus three years of supervised release. (FACT: DOJ, Washington Post) He served that time as a man in his seventies. On January 20, 2025, the presidential clemency proclamation reached the January 6 cases. The Office of the Pardon Attorney lists Lonnie Coffman as a pardon-certificate recipient. (FACT: DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney FOIA release) A veteran of Vietnam. A man from Falkville, Alabama. That belongs on the record next to everything else. CASE RECORD Case number: 1:21-cr-00004-CKK Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge: Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Arrested: January 6, 2021 Disposition: Pleaded guilty November 12, 2021. Sentenced April 1, 2022 to concurrent terms topped by 46 months plus three years supervised release. Pardon-certificate recipient following the January 20, 2025 clemency proclamation. DOJ release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/alabama-man-sentenced-46-months-prison-firearms-offenses-district-columbia-and-alabama This profile is unclaimed. If this is you, or your family, claiming it is free, forever.
The case file
On the record
- Case number
- 1:21-cr-00004-CKK
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Judge
- Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
- Prosecutor
- Michael Friedman; Henry Cornelius; Taryn Meeks
- Defense attorney
- Manuel J. Retureta
- Disposition
- Taken into custody January 6, 2021; complaint and initial appearance January 7; indicted January 11; detained pending trial January 12; detention reconsideration denied May 24, 2021; pleaded guilty November 12, 2021 to two federal destructive-device registration counts and one D.C. pistol-license count; sentenced April 1, 2022 to concurrent terms topped by 46 months plus three years supervised release; listed by the Office of the Pardon Attorney as a pardon-certificate recipient following the January 20, 2025 clemency proclamation.
- Arrested
- January 6, 2021
- Plea
- November 12, 2021
- Sentenced
- April 1, 2022
Charges
- 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) — possession of an unregistered firearm/destructive device in Washington, D.C. (guilty plea)
- 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) — possession of an unregistered firearm/destructive device in the transferred Alabama case (guilty plea)
- D.C. Code § 22-4504(a) — carrying a pistol without a license (guilty plea)
- The seventeen-count D.C. indictment included additional firearm, ammunition, rifle/shotgun, and feeding-device allegations; those allegations are not listed as convictions without the native judgment.
Sentence
46 months imprisonment on each federal count and 15 months on the District of Columbia count, all concurrent, followed by three years of supervised release.
Press & news
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/01/coffman-molotov-cocktail-sentence-jan6/ →
- https://www.courthousenews.com/prison-for-army-vet-who-brought-guns-molotov-cocktails-to-dc-on-jan-6/ →
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/alabama-man-sentenced-46-months-prison-firearms-offenses-district-columbia-and-alabama →
- https://patch.com/alabama/across-al/alabama-man-gets-4-years-prison-jan-6-related-charges →
- https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/alabama-man-who-brought-guns-molotov-cocktails-to-dc-sentenced-to-46-months-in-prison-lonnie-coffman-militia-texas-border-camp-lonestar/65-8b9b6175-a892-43a5-a5d9-859c36a1ae3c →
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/alabama-man-pleads-guilty-firearms-offenses →
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/alabama-man-charged-possession-eleven-molotov-cocktails-found-near-protest-us-capitol →
- https://www.justice.gov/pardon/freedom-information-act-foia-release-pardon-certificate-recipients →
- https://altoday.com/archives/44806-lonnie-coffman-sentenced-to-nearly-4-years-in-prison-for-january-6-charges →
- https://www.scribd.com/document/509265665/Lonnie-Coffman →
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Connection to United States v. Nichols
Lonnie Leroy Coffman appears in the record of United States v. Nichols through 13 shared documents on file below. The full case — timeline, people, documents — is public and free.
Walk the whole case →Evidence on file
13 documents on file
Ryan7 documents
Ryan Nichols' own paperwork — grievances, motions, letters, cell notes.
article · Jan 20, 2025
Office of the Pardon Attorney Record Listing Lonnie Leroy Coffman
Official DOJ recipient list includes “COFFMAN, LONNIE LEROY” among people who requested and were issued a pardon certificate. The individual certificate binary remains pending.
Readarticle · Apr 1, 2022
DOJ Sentencing Record for Lonnie Leroy Coffman
Official DOJ release confirming the April 1, 2022 sentence: 46 months on each federal count and 15 months on the D.C. count, all concurrent, followed by three years of supervised release.
Readarticle · Apr 1, 2022
Reported Firsthand Statement from Lonnie Coffman Before Sentencing
Courthouse News reported that Coffman wrote the sentencing judge that he had not intended to hurt anyone or destroy property. This source is preserved as a lead to a firsthand statement; the native letter remains pending.
Readarticle · Nov 12, 2021
DOJ Plea Record for Lonnie Leroy Coffman
Official DOJ release confirming Coffman’s November 12, 2021 guilty plea to two federal destructive-device registration counts and one D.C. pistol-license count across the D.C. case and a transferred Alabama case.
Readruling · May 24, 2021
United States v. Coffman — Detention Reconsideration Opinion
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s May 24, 2021 opinion denying Coffman’s motion to revoke the detention order. The ruling concerns pretrial release and does not establish final guilt.
Readarticle · Jan 8, 2021
DOJ Charging Release for Lonnie Leroy Coffman
Official U.S. Attorney’s Office release describing the complaint-stage allegations and stating that Coffman was arrested the previous day. The allegations are preserved as government claims, not findings of guilt.
Readletter
From Ryan — Sept 8 update: water flood, Drs Walls & Coffman, Taylor Etcaranto suicide
Ryan update Sept 8: water diaphragm broke in cell 32, water floods like Red Sea fills entire cell block. Names ERT and guards on duty: Franklin, Cobb, white shirt Hays, Pinky. Identifies "Dr Walls & Dr Coffman, chiropractors both here in DC, both Democrats, both on video beating police, both released for picketing." Two inmates have discovery video showing beating to death of two women during riot — never shown on TV, no officers held accountable. Names officer who allegedly assaulted/assisted in suicide: "Taylor Etcaranto: Responsible for death of officer who committed suicide; Assault & assist in suicide on officer." Recounts again March 18 intake — "the only white man taken into roach infested, dimly lit, holding facility...inmates figured out I was a white Trump supporter...we be ass fucking you white boy."
ReadCo-detainee4 documents in 3 items
Witness statements and letters from fellow January 6 detainees. These are attributed accounts, not court findings.
grievance_form · Nov 11, 2021
Informal Grievance #133394 (IGP #22111223-887) Lt. Moore OC spray attack on C-2B pod (11/11/21)
Electronic Informal Grievance Response ID 133394 / IGP #22111223-887 submitted by Ryan Nichols 11/11/21 02:46 PM detailing OC spray incident where Lt. Moore and another ranking officer indiscriminately sprayed C-2B pod while pursuing inmate Bryan Mock; names victims Lonnie Coffman and Dan Caldwell; stamped RECEIVED Nov 15 2021.
Readletter2 pages
Lonnie Coffman (71 yrs) — Suboxone misdosing and shoulder injection
Amendment violations of elderly J6 detainee Lonnie Coffman (age 71, #376190). Suboxone (opioid) doses out of 12-hour window required 2x/day; given 2 hrs early and 3 hrs late on numerous occasions. Never given Miranda Rights. 2 mattresses requested took 3-4 months. Osteoarthritis prevents reaching back, hygiene needs impossible. Requested MRI for shoulder 4 months, denied 4 times. Shoulder pains worse with time, rotator cuff issues completely ignored by jail medical especially after fell from table onto concrete onto left shoulder - medical decided to inject Lonnie's right shoulder with an unknown liquid. Window leak put in 4 times still gushing water onto blankets while sleeping. Jagged rusty metal throughout cell. Requested VA Rep never seen.
Readletter
Testimony of Kelly Meggs — Samsel beaten, Coffman missed meds, AC off 4 days (p.2)
Page 2 of Meggs testimony. Sgt Franklin & CPL Hubbard ("both great people") had preconceived white supremacist/racist notions from staff/media. No bail at 52 with no prior arrests, designated terrorist at FL bond hearing over "destruction charge" DOJ now says no evidence of but won't drop to keep him detained. Heard screams at 3:15-3:30am - found out next day Ryan Samsel had been brutally beaten in next pod. Lonnie Coffman age 72 several times 3-4 hrs late for medication every 12 hours. In June AC turned off 4 days in C2B at 95+F, slept on concrete floor in underwear.
ReadAttorney1 document
Defense counsel correspondence (Joseph McBride, Jonathan Gross).
Govt response1 document
Responses from DC DOC, the U.S. Marshals, and federal agencies.