After spending time in a state mental health facility, one of the defendants in the shooting death of Colin Nutter in Highland Park has been found fit for trial by mental health evaluators.
Michael Coffee, one of three men charged with first-degree murder in the June 2013 shooting death of 20-year-old Highland Park resident Colin Nutter, has been returned to Lake County jail from a secured mental health facility and is scheduled for a status of fitness hearing Tuesday.
Doctors at the facility issued a report concluding that he is currently fit for trial, Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Pavletic said Wednesday.
Judge Victoria Rossetti on Wednesday scheduled the fitness status hearing for Coffee on the basis of the new report and could schedule a trial date for him at that time. Defense attorneys are studying the report in advance of that hearing.
Coffee, of Highland Park, was transferred to the facility last fall, and under state statute could have spent up to a year receiving treatment there before moving forward with trial or being declared unfit for trial, prosecutors have said.
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A trial for another defendant, Philip Vatamaniuc, also of Highland Park, is scheduled April 17 after numerous delays.
The third defendant, Benjamin Schenk of Highwood, has pleaded guilty under a negotiated agreement and is awaiting sentencing until after it is determined whether he will be needed to testify at the trials of Vatamaniuc and Coffee.
Under the agreement, Schenk will be sentenced to between 20 and 60 years in prison, the standard range for a first-degree murder enhancement, but will be immune to a potential firearm enhancement that could significantly have extended that sentence.
Prosecutors have said that based on evidence in the case, it is believed either Vatamaniuc or Schenk shot Nutter.
According to police reports and prosecutors, Coffee, Vatamaniuc and Schenk arranged a marijuana deal with Nutter on June 3, 2013, and when the group gathered in Nutter’s car, he was shot in the head in an apparent robbery attempt.
Authorities have said injuries show that Nutter was shot from behind, although that does not necessarily mean the shot was fired from someone in the seat directly behind him. Coffee is believed to have been in the front passenger seat, according to officials.
Under state law, all three were eligible to be held accountable of first-degree murder if convicted at trial, regardless of who fired the gun.
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