Original Article Judge: Police raid of Hells Angels was 'attack' Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic Dec. 2, 2004 12:00 AM A judge has taken police to task for a drug raid on a Hells Angels clubhouse in north Phoenix in which a man was shot. In a blistering decision, Judge Michael Wilkinson of Maricopa County Superior Court described the early-morning operation as an "attack" that violated Arizona search-and-seizure laws. The judge tossed out key evidence police obtained against the injured man, Michael Wayne Coffelt, a Phoenix resident and prospective Hells Angels member. Coffelt, 42, had been scheduled to stand trial Jan. 5 on charges of aggravated assault against the Glendale officer who shot him. Richard Schonfeld, a Las Vegas defense lawyer, said Wednesday that Wilkinson's order effectively guts the prosecution's case. "The judge correctly interpreted the evidence," he said. "This is a first step toward redressing the grievance of Mr. Coffelt, . . . who was the victim here." Wilkinson, in a two-page order issued Monday, ruled that police made an illegal entry in the 4:42 a.m. raid by attacking the rear of the clubhouse. The assault came within the six seconds it took Coffelt, who was inside the house, to respond to police knocking on the front door, the judge said. Clearly, officers failed to wait a reasonable time before firing a "diversionary grenade" and breaking a window, he said. Coffelt was armed with a handgun when he came to the front door, Wilkinson said. "This would appear to be reasonable behavior, given the hour and the fact that the house was under attack," he said. The raid took place July 8, 2003, as part of a multiagency law-enforcement sweep across Arizona. Officer Laura Beeler, who at the time was 33 and a nearly nine-year member of the Glendale force, shot Coffelt with a rifle. Beeler claimed that Coffelt took aim at her and fired once, but investigators determined that Coffelt never fired. The handgun recovered from him was fully loaded, police said. Wilkinson ruled that Beeler was "incorrect" in claiming that she had been fired upon. "But with the attack at the rear of the house, the diversionary grenade being set off and a 'break and rake' of the window, it was an understandable mistake," Wilkinson said. Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said there has been no final decision on whether to appeal. Schonfeld, the lawyer for Coffelt, said that still unresolved is a federal lawsuit that Coffelt filed against Glendale, Beeler and others on July 7, seeking unspecified damages. Andrew Kirkland, Glendale's police chief, declined to comment on Monday's ruling because of the federal litigation, but he did say that officers had a valid search warrant. Beeler has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting by county prosecutors, as well as the Glendale police's Use of Force Review Board.