76 15 IRVING MATTHEW COFFMAN 16 after having been duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole 17 truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: 18 DIRECT EXAMINATION 19 BY MR. CORGAN: 20 Q Would you state your name, please, sir. 21 A Irving Matthew Coffman. 22 Q Mr. Coffman, where do you live? 23 A I live at XXXX Lincoln Place. 24 Q How long have you lived there? 25 A Lived there approximately 15 years. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
77 1 Q Would you tell us, please, sir, what your family 2 consists of? 3 A My wife and I and then we have five children. Two of 4 them are away at college, so we have three at home. 5 They're 18, 16, and 12 -- or 13. 6 Q What are their -- put some names for me, if you 7 would. 8 A Brent and Michelle are away at school. And then 9 Allen is my oldest son at home. He's 18. Jeff is 16, and 10 then Candi is our youngest. She's 13. 11 Q Mr. Coffman, do you know the defendant in this case, 12 Steve Allen? 13 A Yes. 14 Q And how are you acquainted with him? 15 A Just from being a neighbor. We live catty-corner 16 from him. 17 Q Explain, if you could, where you live in relation to 18 Mr. Allen. 19 A Okay. We live south of him and east. There's a 20 street, Lincoln Place, runs to the south of his home; and 21 we live across the street and behind him. 22 Q Now, is Lincoln Place a through street? 23 A No. 24 Q Where -- I guess, where doesn't it go or how does it 25 end? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
78 1 A It runs from Jefferson Road, which is a through 2 street. It runs east and west, and it runs to the east in 3 front of our house. 4 And that's the end of the street. There's a 5 street light right behind the street there. 6 Q Other than your home and the Allen home, are there 7 any other homes in that immediate area? 8 A Yes. There are two others that -- The Allen home 9 is -- again, faces Jefferson Road; and the garage and the 10 side are on Lincoln Place. 11 And then across Lincoln Place from them is the 12 Larsen's home, and then our home is behind the Larsen's. 13 And then in front of us across and behind the 14 Allens' is the Vigesaa home. 15 So those are the four homes that are along that 16 street that we live on. 17 Q I'm going to ask you to do something that I wouldn't 18 like to be asked to do because I'm not much of an artist. 19 And I'm not expecting any great piece of art. 20 But I want to move the board over to you. And 21 could you draw in the roads you've told us about and then 22 designate where these houses are? 23 Again, I'm not -- I don't want it scaled but 24 just kind of an understanding for us of the roads in that 25 area and the houses. Could you do that? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
79 1 A Yes, sir. 2 Q Mr. Coffman, what I'll do is I'll give you this 3 marker. I'll give you an opportunity to make your 4 drawing. Go ahead and put on there whatever you want to. 5 And then after you have finished with that, if 6 you'll take your seat; and I'll have some questions for 7 you. 8 A (The witness complied with the request). 9 Q Mr. Coffman, I handed you that pointer. Would you 10 show us -- and I may have you add it in a minute -- where 11 north would be on your diagram? 12 A It would be straight this direction. 13 Q And for the record, you're pointing to the top? 14 A Yes. 15 Q Would you explain to us what you have placed on your 16 diagram? 17 A Again, this is the through street, Jefferson Road. 18 And the Larsens' home and the Allen home face onto that 19 street. 20 And then we live behind -- well, we live behind 21 the Larsens, and the Vigesaas live behind the Allens on 22 Lincoln Place. 23 Q So as far as the front door of both the Allen home 24 and the Larsen home, what direction would that face? 25 A It would face west, both of these houses. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
80 1 Q Now, if I went north on Jefferson Road, would I 2 intersect with any other streets? 3 A Yes. 4 Q What would be the first Street that I would intersect 5 with? 6 A There's two right close together, and I'm not sure 7 which one. There's Wilson Road, and there's also Church 8 Court. I think Church Court is slightly ahead of -- 9 Q Which direction would Church Court be from Jefferson 10 Road? 11 A It would be to the west. 12 Q And which direction would Wilson be in relation to 13 Jefferson Road? 14 A It would be to the east. 15 Q Do you know if there are any homes in that area, both 16 Church Court and Wilson? 17 A Yes, there are. 18 Q Now, if I went south on Jefferson Road, would I 19 encounter any roads? 20 A Yes. 21 Q What would that be? 22 A You would encounter Lincoln Road. 23 Q And what direction does it run? 24 A It runs east and west. 25 Q Could I ask you, sir, to add our direction marker and DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
81 1 Wilson Road and Lincoln Road to your map? 2 A Okay. (The witness complied with the request). 3 Q Mr. Coffman, having lived in the neighborhood there 4 for some 15 years, are you acquainted with the neighbors 5 and the people that live in the neighborhood? 6 A Yes, sir. 7 Q Let me ask you, sir, if we were to proceed south past 8 the Larsen home going to Lincoln Road, would we run into 9 any other homes? 10 A Yes, sir. 11 Q And whose home would that be? 12 A By the Larsens here would be the Vaclaws, and their 13 home faces on Lincoln Road. And next to them -- well, I 14 guess you don't want over there. 15 Q Well, go ahead. 16 A Well, over here is the Cowmans' home behind us. 17 Q Cowman? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Now, if I were to proceed north past the Allen home, 20 would I run into any homes? 21 A Yes, sir. Here -- right here on the corner of Wilson 22 and Jefferson is the Spears. 23 Q What if I were to proceed then onto Wilson? 24 A Then there are two homes back behind there. It's 25 very similar to our street. It's a two-house street back DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
82 1 behind there. 2 And that's the -- Right here is the Eastmans, 3 and across the street are the Johnstons' home. 4 Q What about on the west side of Jefferson Road? Are 5 there any homes in that area? 6 A Yes, sir. There are really three here. On the 7 corner is the Hackers, and then next to them is the 8 Nowotnys. 9 And then right here in the Herrings' home, and 10 it faces right into our street. 11 Q What about north of the Herrings? Is there -- 12 A Yes. There's one additional house, and it faces then 13 on Church Court. 14 Q Who lives there? 15 A I'm not sure I can recall the name right now. 16 Q Okay. I got you on that one. Would you go ahead and 17 put on your map those homes that you are familiar with and 18 where they're located that you've told about -- the 19 Vaclaws, the Cowman, Eastman, Johnston, Herring, Nowotny, 20 and Hacker? 21 A Yes, sir. (The witness complied with the request). 22 Q Mr. Coffman, if I were to travel east past your home 23 and go past the street light there, what would I run into? 24 A A vacant field. 25 Q You have on your street there that street light DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
83 1 marked. Do you know if that works? 2 A Yes, it does. 3 Q And do you know if it was working on June the 11th of 4 1990? 5 A Yes, it was. 6 Q Now, Mr. Coffman, can you tell us, please, sir, your 7 activities the evening of June the 11th of 1990? 8 A It was a fairly hectic evening. We had two 9 missionaries from our church over for dinner. 10 And my two sons and I were getting ready for a 11 canoe trip later in the week. 12 And we had a meeting over at the church that 13 evening to make final preparations for the camping trip. 14 So we had dinner, and then we left the house 15 about -- a few minutes before 7:00. The meeting was at 16 7:00 over at the church. 17 And so we left the house, Allen, Jeff, and 18 myself, and went over to the house -- or went over to the 19 church. 20 And we were at a meeting over there till about 21 8:30. I'm not quite sure of the time there. 22 We came back to the house and spent a couple of 23 minutes, three or four minutes, deciding what to do next. 24 I had some aqua shoes my wife had purchased that 25 were too small, so I needed to replace those at the mall DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
84 1 before it closed. 2 And we decided at the same time we needed to 3 take the missionaries home. They lived downtown. 4 So we left the house about 8:38, and I noticed 5 the time because of the mall closing and what needed to be 6 done in a short period of time. 7 So we went out to the mall. I had taken Jeff 8 with me, my son, Jeff. We went out to the mall, exchanged 9 the shoes, and then took the missionaries home. 10 And then it was just shortly before 9:00 that we 11 were coming back up Nowata Road to turn on Jefferson, and 12 I noticed the time was 8:58. 13 And I noticed that because the fact that we had 14 done all that in a short period of time. 15 And about that same time or shortly before then, 16 I remembered that we didn't have the tax number we needed 17 to purchase the food. 18 Jeff and I had the responsibility to purchase 19 the food for the canoe trip. 20 So we stopped back by the house, which would 21 have been approximately nine o'clock. He ran in and got 22 the tax number, and then we went to the store. 23 Q Now, when you went back to your house around nine 24 o'clock there, did you go in? 25 A No, I did not. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
85 1 Q Where did you stay? 2 A I stayed in the car. 3 Q Jeff went in? 4 A Right. 5 Q How long would you say he was gone? 6 A Oh, probably a minute or minute to two minutes maybe. 7 Q What did you do after that? 8 A We then left to go to Pricecutter to purchase some 9 food. 10 Q As you left to go to Pricecutter, did you notice 11 anything in or around the Allen home? 12 A At that time, I noticed that Steve was getting in his 13 car -- or I can't say he was getting in his car. 14 But I noticed -- I had the distinct impression 15 that he was leaving. So I saw him, and he was at the car 16 in his driveway at that time. 17 Q What did you do then? 18 A We just proceeded to -- we turned left and went up on 19 Lincoln Road and went to Pricecutter. We were at the 20 store for approximately an hour. 21 And then we also proceeded to Skaggs because 22 there were a few things we hadn't gotten. We returned 23 home then. 24 Well, we checked out of Skaggs, according to the 25 cash register tape, at 10:06; and we returned home about DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
86 1 10:10 or something. 2 And at that time, all the emergency vehicles 3 were in our area. 4 Q Now, when you came back home, what direction or route 5 of travel did you take? 6 A When we came back home, we had gone on Washington 7 Boulevard and turned on Lincoln Road. 8 It's about three blocks out to Washington 9 Boulevard, and then we proceeded down here to the stop 10 sign here. 11 Q What happened when you got there to the stop sign? 12 A As we got to the stop sign -- well, the first thing I 13 noticed was there were cars backed up back here which it 14 was amazing to me. 15 And it wasn't until I actually started to turn 16 the corner, I recognized all the emergency vehicles that 17 were -- 18 Q Did you go ahead and turn the corner? 19 A Yes, and proceeded about half way up the street here. 20 And at that point, one of the neighbors -- one of the kids 21 of the neighbors told us that something had, you know, at 22 the Allens, something had happened at the Allens. 23 Q What did you do at that time? 24 A We then proceeded to back up. I think we turned in 25 the Nowotnys, turned around, and we parked over at the DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
87 1 Vaclaws' driveway because we couldn't get through to our 2 own home. 3 Q What do you mean you couldn't get through to your 4 home? 5 A Well, there was -- the ambulances were here 6 and the fire trucks and several police cars, so it was -- the way 7 was blocked at that time. 8 Q After you parked your vehicle there at the Vaclaws, 9 did you ever move it that night? 10 A No. 11 Q Why not? 12 A Well, we had talked to the police; and they asked us 13 not to go ahead and drive down there. We had all these 14 groceries in the car. 15 So later on that evening, we did go back and 16 carry those around to put in the refrigerator and that. 17 Q How did you get your groceries home? 18 A We carried them. Jeff, Allen, and I all, I think all 19 three of us carried them home later that evening - later 20 that night. 21 What was your route to do that? 22 A We went out and around. So it would have been this 23 way. There are several fences in the yards that precluded 24 you from taking the short - 25 Q You couldn't hop through the Cowmans' -- DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
88 1 A No. 2 Q -- or the Vaclaws' yard, those type things? 3 A No. 4 Q Now, did you have occasion to have any contact with 5 anyone in the Allen family that evening? 6 A No direct contact. Again, I saw Steve two or three 7 times that evening; but I didn't have any direct contact 8 with him. 9 Q What about any of the children? - 10 A No, not that I'm aware of. 11 Q After you got home, did you have occasion to see or 12 talk to any of the children? 13 A At what time are you talking? 14 Q After you bought the groceries. 15 A When we got home -- well, it wasn't actually home. 16 When we got to the area, then my wife was over at the 17 Allen home; and we talked to her at that time. 18 Q Where was she? 19 A She was at the Allen home standing right over here 20 off the driveway. 21 Q Was she alone or with someone? 22 A She was with Allen and several of the neighbors that 23 congregated at that time. 24 Q Did you see any of Mr. Allen's children in that area? 25 A His youngest son was there. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
89 1 Q Where was he? 2 A He was with Bob Herring. 3 Q And did you have any contact with [the child] that night? 4 A Yes, I did. 5 Q Tell us about that. 6 A Mr. Herring had had the child; and it was shortly 7 after I got there that Steve had come out of the house and 8 wanted to get to the hospital. And his wife, Kay, had 9 volunteered to take him to the hospital. 10 Q Now, whose wife would that be? 11 A Bob Herring's wife. 12 Q Okay. 13 A And at that time, my wife volunteered we'll take [the child] 14 and you can go with your wife, and he didn't want to do 15 that. He wanted to keep the child at that time. 16 But over -- I don't know -- about 10 or 15 17 minutes later, it just sort of dawned on him; and he 18 gave -- said I better go up to the hospital. 19 So he gave the child to my wife, and he started 20 crying at that point. So she handed him to me, and then 21 he quieted down. 22 And we took him home and kept him until about 23 midnight or so when the Herrings came and got him and took 24 him to another family. 25 Q What, if any, observations did you make about [the child] at DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
90 1 that time as far as his demeanor or his physical 2 appearance? 3 A The thing that we noted -- I noted, and I think most 4 of my family noted, was that he was very clean that night. 5 But he didn't seem overly upset or anything. 6 Again, it seemed like he wanted a male or 7 something to hold him at the time; but he calmed down 8 quickly when we -- when I took him. 9 Q Apparently, you had the touch that night. 10 A Yeah, yeah. 11 Q And obviously, with five children, you've got some 12 experience. 13 A Yes. 14 Q Mr. Coffman, I believe you mentioned in addition to 15 seeing the defendant at his home at 9:00 p.m., around 9:00 16 p.m., you said you saw him on some other occasions that 17 evening? 18 A At about seven o'clock time when we went to the 19 church, we saw him out working in his yard -- or I saw 20 him. I don't know if the kids were paying that much 21 attention. 22 Q Any other time? 23 A And then again at 9:00, I saw him as it appeared he 24 was leaving. 25 And then the last time I saw him was after the DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
91 1 emergency vehicles had arrived. And he came out of the 2 home and asked for this ride to the hospital. 3 So it was a very fleeting time that I saw him at 4 that last time. 5 Q You saw him those three different times. 6 A Yes, sir. 7 MR. CORGAN: I believe that's all. 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 CROSS-EXAMINATION 10 BY MR. CARLSON: 11 Q Mr. Coffman, when you saw [the child] and you held him, he 12 smelled clean, didn't he? 13 A Yes. 14 Q He smelled to you like he had just had a fresh bath 15 not too long ago, didn't he? 16 A Yes. I think that's what I had described. 17 Q Okay. And he was in clean clothes, wasn't he? 18 A Yes, sir. 19 Q How long did you hold him, sir? 20 A Oh, I guess probably 5, 10 minutes. Wasn't too long 21 because my daughter, Michelle, who is normally away at 22 school was there that summer. 23 And she and my other daughter took him pretty 24 shortly after we got him home, and they played with him. 25 Q Now, you said that Steve was concerned about getting DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
92 1 to the hospital there at the house; is that correct? 2 A Yes, sir. 3 Q And he appeared very concerned about Sandra; isn't 4 that correct? 5 A He didn't really express anything about Sandra other 6 than just the need to get to the hospital. 7 Q And there was sense of urgency that he needed to get 8 to the hospital. 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q Now, you said that you saw Steve working in his yard 11 at approximately seven o'clock? Did I understand you 12 correctly on that? 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q And Steve was mowing at that time, wasn't he? 15 A Yes. 16 Q With regard to this evening in question, at some 17 point, didn't you see Steve drive by his house? 18 A No, sir, I didn't. - 19 Q Did you not ever see him drive by his house that 20 evening? 21 A No, sir. 22 Q At some point -- now, if you could locate for me the 23 Herring residence. I was over there a little way, so it 24 was a little hard for me to see where you were drawing. 25 But the Herring residence is right -- DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
93 1 A Yes. It faces right into Lincoln Place. 2 Q And the Nowotnys are right here too, are they not? 3 A Yes. 4 Q Okay. This is your home that you've labeled, 5 correct? 6 A Yes, sir. 7 Q And when you would come out here -- and this is a 8 dead-end street, is it not? 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q Lincoln Place? And when you would come out of your 11 home, you would turn here and have to go down and go 12 either north or south on Jefferson, one of the two. 13 A Yes, sir. That's the only way out. 14 Q Now, you said that you thought you were at your home 15 around nine o'clock. Was that correct? 16 A Yes, sir. 17 Q All right. At that time, did you ever see the 18 Herrings or the Nowotnys out on the Herrings' porch? 19 A No, sir, I didn't. 20 Q Do you know which automobile you had the impression 21 you saw that particular evening? The blue automobile or 22 the green automobile? 23 A I can't tell you, sir. 24 Q And I assume that at this time when you were at your 25 house when you thought you saw an automobile -- DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
94 1 MR. CORGAN: Excuse me, Your Honor. I'm 2 going to object to the form of the question. 3 THE COURT: Sustain the form of the 4 question. 5 Q (By Mr. Carlson) When you were at the house that 6 you said that you saw an automobile, was it still light, 7 sir? 8 A Yes. 9 Q Now, your son was with you, I take it; is that 10 correct? 11 A Yes, my son, Jeff. 12 Q Okay. On that evening, there was a neighbor that 13 came over, a neighbor boy that came over and met with your 14 son, wasn't there? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 Q And that would have been Daniel Eastman? 17 A Yes, sir. 18 Q And Daniel lives, I'm going to say around here behind 19 you. That's not a very good way to characterize it. I'll 20 say north of you; is that correct? 21 A Yes, sir. 22 Q And in order for Daniel to get to your house, if he 23 rode his bicycle, what would he have to do? 24 A He would have to -- here's his driveway. He would 25 have to ride around. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
95 1 Then there is a sidewalk here in front of these 2 two homes around this way, so it would have been around 3 that way. 4 Q And Daniel rode over to your house that evening and 5 talked to your son, Jeff, because they were getting ready 6 to go on a canoe trip. 7 A He talked to my son, Allen. Jeff and I were at the 8 grocery store. 9 Q I'm sorry. 10 A So it was Allen that was still at home. 11 Q So he talked to Allen. And after they visited 12 awhile, were you there when Daniel left -- Daniel Eastman? 13 A No, sir. 14 Q You were still at the grocery store? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 Q Now, counsel asked you about the home; and you 17 located the homes in the particular area. How long have 18 you lived there, Mr. Coffman, in that area? 19 A I believe I said it was about 15 years. 20 Q You have to bear with me sometimes. Sometimes over 21 here, you can't hear as well as up here. 22 A Okay. 23 Q With regard to someone if they left the Allen home on 24 foot and had, say, a 15 to 20 to 25 minute head start, 25 could someone disappear in that neighborhood? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
96 1 MR. CORGAN: Excuse me, Your Honor. I'm 2 going to object as being beyond the scope of direct 3 examination and calls for speculation on the part of this 4 witness. 5 THE COURT: Rephrase your question. 6 Q (By Mr. Carlson) Are there places where a person 7 could go if a person had 15 or 20 minutes lead time If 8 they left the Allen home on foot? 9 A There are probably some places, yes. 10 Q Thank you, Mr. Coffman. 11 THE COURT: Redirect? 12 -------------------------------------------------------------- 13 REDIRECT EXAMINATION 14 BY MR. CORGAN: 15 Q Mr. Coffman, you say that Daniel Eastman came over 16 that evening? 17 A Yes, sir. 18 Q How do you know that? 19 A At the meeting at the church at seven o'clock -- His 20 family had been out of town. Let me preface it that way. 21 And they'd just gotten into town, so I don't 22 think he was aware at the meeting. But he was not at this 23 preparation meeting. 24 So one of the assignments my boys and I had was 25 to have him over and let him know the things he needed to DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
97 1 take to go on the camping trip. 2 So that -- in the two minutes that -- well, I 3 had told my son, Allen, as we left to take the 4 missionaries and to go to the mall to call Daniel and have 5 him come over and brief him. 6 And then at this nine o'clock when we came back, 7 I told Jeff remind him. You know, get the tax number and 8 remind Allen to call and have him over. 9 And so he called right about that time about 10 nine o clock to have him come over. 11 Q So you assumed that Daniel was not at the home then. 12 A No, he was not. 13 Q Did you ever see Daniel that evening? 14 A No, sir. 15 Q So if he came to your home, it would have been when? 16 A Sometime after 9:00, shortly after 9:00. 17 Q And while you were sitting there in the driveway 18 around 9:00, you didn't see Daniel. 19 A No, sir. 20 MR. CORGAN: I believe that's all. 21 MR. CARLSON: We have nothing further. 22 THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Coffman. 23 MR. CORGAN: Your Honor, at this time, we 24 would ask that the chart be marked as State's -- I believe 25 the next number would be State's Exhibit Number 4; and we DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
98 1 would move its admission. 2 MR. CARLSON: We have no objection. 3 THE COURT: State 4 allowed. Anyone on the 4 jury need a break before the next witness? 5 It might not be real long, but it'll be a little 6 bit. Anybody that -- Call your next witness then. 7 MR. CORGAN: Your Honor, we would call 8 Allen Coffman at this time.
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