For nearly seven years, William Coleman has been at the center of a legal controversy in Connecticut. Convicted of sexually assaulting his wife, he has maintained his innocence and has been on a hunger strike in state prison. His attempt to resist force-feeding has led to several court challenges, all of which Coleman has lost.
Now, in barely a day’s time, his circumstances have changed drastically.
First, Coleman was taken from prison and deported to his native England. Erin O’Neil-Baker, an attorney with the Hartford Legal Group, said Coleman called her late Tuesday afternoon to say he was being taken to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York for a flight to England against his will.
And then on Wednesday, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Christopher Parakilas dropped a felony charge that had extended Coleman’s prison time. Coleman had been charged with failing to register as a sex offender and had been detained on $50,000 bail on the charge since December 2012, when he finished the eight-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting his wife.
Coleman, 53, of Liverpool, England, had been on a hunger strike and hadn’t eaten solid food since September 2007, said O’Neil-Baker. Prison officials had force-fed him through a nose tube under court orders since 2008, she said.
