A former Jamestown man who has been accused of being part of a drug ring that included several Jamestown residents has had his charges related to an Olean shooting upheld by a state appeals court.

Theodore E. Coffie had appealed his jury conviction on a charge of first-degree reckless endangerment to the Fourth Department Appellate Division. The court recently dismissed Coffie’s appeal.

Coffie was arrested in 2021 in Jamestown by Jamestown police and charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a firearm and second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was then taken to the Olean Police Department for processing and taken to the Cattaraugus County Jail. He was later convicted of reckless endangerment.

Coffie appealed the jury’s judgment, saying there is legally insufficient evidence to prove he fired nine shots outside a house toward a street or that anyone was in or near the line of fire. The Appellate Division panel ruled that the argument hadn’t been properly preserved for its review because the trial order of dismissal motion didn’t raise the specific grounds Coffie was advancing on appeal and because Coffie did not renew the motion after presenting evidence. While the court could have ruled simply on the technicality, the panel reviewed the evidence anyway and found that Coffie’s conviction was legally justified.

“The testimony of defendant’s girlfriend established defendant’s identity as the shooter, and we reject defendant’s contention that her testimony was ‘so unworthy of belief as to be incredible as a matter of law,'” Justice Tracey Bannister wrote while citing a 2006 Fourth Department case, People v. Woods, as precedent. “The evidence also established that the vehicle defendant arrived in when he went to the house was parked in the street, with a passenger still inside the vehicle, when shots were fired near the vehicle.”

Police also found a bullet in a porch directly across the street from the shooting, which the appellate justices said creates a valid line of reasoning and inferences for the jury to find Coffie acted recklessly under the circumstances and created a grave risk of death to a bystander.

Coffie’s also argued he was denied his right to be convicted only on charges determined by a grand jury, which the appellate judges said had not been preserved for their review. Coffie’s attorneys also claimed Cattaraugus County Court had not complied with procedure for disclosure of jury notes. The note was read by the court into the record in open court in the presence of Coffie, his attorney and the jury, and Coffie or his attorney were required to object in order to preserve his contention for appellate review.

“We decline to exercise our power to review defendant’s contention as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice,” Bannister wrote.

Coffie also asked the Fourth Department justices to review a claim of prosecutorial misconduct, which the justice said hadn’t been properly preserved for review. While the prosecutor’s remarks may have been improper, the appellate court ruled the comments were not so egregious or pervasive that they deprived Coffie of a fair trial. Coffie also argued his council was not effective and that his sentence was too harsh.

“Inasmuch as defendant has completed serving the sentence imposed, his contention that the sentence is unduly harsh and severe has been rendered moot,” Bannister wrote. ‘Even assuming, arguendo, that defendant’s contention is not moot, we would decline to reduce the sentence as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice.”

Coffie was indicted in March by a federal grand jury with narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua A. Violanti, who is handling the case, stated that between July 2016, and March 2021, Coffie conspired with Joseph S. Zaso, and others, to sell heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana in the Olean area. Zaso was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing for his role in a drug ring that reached Jamestown and Buffalo. In total, 21 people ranging from Jamestown, Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton (who was living in Georgia when he was charged) and Olean face federal charges announced over the past four years.