THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505260501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The man who battered a woman's head with an ax in a grocery store parking lot was convicted Thursday of malicious wounding.
The jury recommended that he be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The jury rejected the argument that he was insane at the time of the assault.
The 12-member jury took about two hours to decide that 37-year-old Michael Coker, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and ex-convict, knew what he was doing when he attacked Tammie L. Wainwright outside a Churchland Food Lion Jan. 13.
Coker, who trembled visibly throughout the three-day trial, seemed unaffected by the verdict.
Coker's attorney, Michael Rosenberg, argued that his client was acting on an uncontrollable impulse, and assaulted Wainwright only after overdosing on a prescription drug that sometimes produces violent reactions.
Rosenberg tried to get the jury to commit Coker to a mental institution.
Although Rosenberg failed to get an acquittal, the verdict could have been more severe. The jury had the option of convicting Coker of aggravated malicious wounding for striking Wainwright five times with an ax as she walked to the grocery store to buy cat food. That crime carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
It was a bittersweet ending for Wainwright, who has suffered memory and hearing loss.
``I am not completely satisfied,'' Wainwright said outside the courtroom after the verdict. ``I think he should have gotten life. It's obvious the man tried to kill me.''
But Wainwright said she was relieved to have the trial behind her and eager to get on with her life. She continues to receive treatment for her injuries and has not worked since the attack.
``He is at least going away for a long time,'' Wainwright said.
The trial never hinged on whether Coker committed the crime. He admitted the attack, which was witnessed by many people. One of them, Johnnie Day of Portsmouth, saved Wainwright's life by scaring Coker off. Day drove his car toward Wainwright, honking his car's horn.
The main issue was whether Coker knew what he was doing when he rode a bike to the Food Lion carrying an ax.
Initially, Coker told police he rode to the grocery store and randomly attacked Wainwright because he wanted to go back to prison, where the medication for his mental illness was better.
But in subsequent interviews, Coker changed his story. In February, he said he attacked Wainwright because she came at him in the parking lot. In April he said he overdosed on a drug that caused him to feel ill and to hear voices.
The voices, Coker said, were caused when he ingested 10 tablets of congentin, a drug used to control shaking caused by an anti-psychotic drug, prolixin, which Coker took to control his schizophrenia.
Several psychologists testified that congentin could cause violent reactions if taken in excess. They said that mentally ill patients will frequently hoard medicine, and then take what they have saved all at once.
But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Will Jamerson convinced the jury that Coker's story was a calculated attempt to escape prison.
``The voices came only after he knew he was being evaluated for the insanity defense,'' Jamerson told the jurors.
Circuit Court Judge Johnny Morrison ordered a presentence report and will consider the jury's sentence recommendation on July 14. Coker is being held in the Portsmouth City Jail on a $500,000 bond. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael Coker
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT ARREST TRIAL VERDICT by CNB