Wedgefield Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Martez Mandel Coleman, 44, of Wedgefield, was sentenced to a total of 12 years in federal prison yesterday. The sentence consists of 120 months for charges of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and a quantity of marijuana stemming from an incident in Oct. 2022. Coleman also had 24 months revoked on his supervised release stemming from a 2001 federal murder conviction.

Evidence presented to the court showed that on the evening of Oct. 10, 2022, a deputy with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop of a Mercedes after observing a traffic violation. When the deputy approached the vehicle, he smelled marijuana and observed a baggy of what he believed to be illegal narcotics on the center console. Coleman, the sole occupant of the vehicle, admitted to having marijuana and a firearm in the vehicle. Deputies recovered a loaded 9mm handgun and several baggies of fentanyl and marijuana inside the vehicle. A drug analysis later showed that it was approximately 126 grams of fentanyl and approximately 47 grams of marijuana in the baggies. The investigation revealed the firearm as having been previously reported as stolen in Florence.

Coleman is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition based upon his 2001 federal convictions for murder in relation to felony drug offense, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of 50 grams or more of crack cocaine and five kilograms or more of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute/distribution of crack cocaine, using/carrying a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking crime, and causing death of a person through use of firearm. After being convicted following a jury trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later Coleman filed a motion for a reduced sentence pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018. The court reduced his sentence in 2020 to 300 months imprisonment with five years of supervised release. Coleman was released from federal prison in 2021 and was on federal supervised release at the time of the Oct. 2022 incident. Therefore, in addition to the new charges, Coleman faced a revocation of that federal supervised release.

Senior United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. imposed both the sentence and revocation. The Court ran 12 months of the 24-month revocation concurrent to the 120 months sentence and the other 12 months consecutive to that 120-month sentence. Upon completing the total terms of imprisonment, Coleman will be on supervised release for eight years.

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, and the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey D. Haynes prosecuted the case, as well as Coleman’s earlier 2001 case.

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