One of three men convicted in the murder of a 20-year-old Highland Park man who was shot, robbed and had his body dumped has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Michael D. Coffee, 28, of Highland Park, was charged in 2013 with first-degree murder, concealing a homicidal death, armed robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti sentenced Coffee to 40 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections during a court hearing on Tuesday.
Coffee, who has been held in custody since his arrest over 10 years ago, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder during the hearing.
Coffee had been found unfit for trial for years, which stalled the case while he underwent treatment. He will receive credit on his sentence for 3,928 days of time already served awaiting trial.
The charges against Coffee stemmed from the murder of Colin Nutter, 20, of Highland Park, that occurred on June 3, 2013, on the border of Highland Park and Highwood.
In addition to Coffee, two others were also charged in Nutter’s murder — Philip Vatamaniuc, now 28, and Benjamin Schenk, now 31.
Evidence at Vatamaniuc’s trial showed that Vatamaniuc, who was 17 at the time, along with Coffee and Schenk, ages 17 and 20 respectively, were together in Highland Park at the residence of a friend, Lauren Hahn.
Vatamaniuc, Coffee and Schenk passed a firearm back and forth between each other and Coffee talked about who they could rob to obtain drugs and money, according to evidence and testimony at trial.
Nutter’s name came up and Coffee called Nutter and arranged to meet him under the guise of meeting to purchase marijuana.
The three suspects left Hahn’s house to meet Nutter while one of them was still armed with the gun.
Nutter arrived at the meeting spot and the trio got into his vehicle.
Schenk testified that Coffee turned the volume up on the radio and yelled “Do it,” at which point Vatamaniuc shot Nutter in the back of the head and took the marijuana that the victim possessed.
Schenk and Vatamaniuc put Nutter’s body into the trunk of the victim’s car and Coffee drove them back to Hahn’s house where Schenk and Coffee cleaned the inside of the vehicle with bleach, according to trial testimony and evidence.
Vatamaniuc, Coffee and Schenk left the home and began driving around before finding a secluded spot where they dumped Nutter’s body in some brush and covered it up.
They returned to the location an hour later to steal Nutter’s wallet.
Coffee took cash from the wallet and Schenk threw the cards that were in Nutter’s wallet out of the car window as they drove on the expressway, according to trial testimony and evidence.
Vatamaniuc was convicted at trial in 2017 and sentenced to 54 years in prison.
Schenk has pleaded guilty to murder but has not been sentenced yet. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday.