Pinellas County judge accepts insanity defense in Red Bull case

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - A man who confessed to smothering his father with a pillow was ruled not guilty by reason of insanity by a Pinellas County judge Wednesday morning.

Stephen Coffeen's lawyer originally claimed his client's actions were the result of exhaustion and a strong dose of the energy drink Red Bull.  His attorney contended  that Coffeen was in the middle of a mental breakdown when he killed his father.

In her ruling, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Nancy Moat Ley said Coffeen was temporarity insane at the time, but Red Bull consumption had nothing to do with it.

She made her decision based on a series of reports from doctors, two of them appointed by the state.

The decision was exactly what Coffeen's brother, Thomas Coffeen, did not want to hear.

"It's crap," Coffeen said earlier this year. "I don't even think the man even drank Red Bull. They can not 100% tell me he did not know what he was doing."

But, in a rare decision, even the prosecution's psychiatrists thought an insanity defense might be appropriate in this case.

Coffeen will be transferred to the state mental hospital in Chatahoochee for killing his father, 83-year-old Robert Coffeen in 2009. He will be re-evaluted and will be back before Judge Ley in December.  He could be released at that time.

Many details in the medical reports were not made public.

Thomas Coffeen said his brother knew exactly what he was doing. "He was jealous of me. I was the more successful one. I had a family. He didn't. He came down here after 11 years and he meant to do harm to my father. I am afraid. My children are afraid. The community should be afraid. He came down here clearly to kill my father."

Thomas Coffeen and his wife were seen crying after Wednesday's ruling.