FROM: Jody Pickens, District Attorney General, 26th Judicial District
Around 2:45 a.m. on September 12, 2022, Madison County Deputy Sheriff Jacob Nickell was patrolling the area of Old Hickory near Hazelton Cove when he observed a Hyundai Sonata traveling without headlights or taillights activated. He initiated a traffic stop, and, upon approaching the vehicle, smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
Deputy Nickell identified the driver as thirty-five (35)-year-old Eric Wayne Coman of Jackson, Tennessee. Carlos Lavon Coman, aged forty-seven (47), also of Jackson, was the front seat passenger. Deputy Nickell conducted a search of the vehicle and discovered the presence of marijuana and promethazine.
He also searched Eric Coman and located a digital scale and a wrapper commonly used to package drugs. Upon searching Carlos Coman, Deputy Nickell found a black Beretta 9 mm handgun loaded with eight (8) rounds in the waistband of Coman’s pants. Carlos Coman is a convicted felon after having been convicted by a Madison County jury in 1996 of Second-Degree Murder for which he served twenty (20) years in the Tennessee Department of Correction.
On October 2, 2023, a Madison County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Carlos Coman with Possession of a Firearm after Having Been Convicted of a Violent Felony and Possession of Marijuana.
On May 19, 2025, the Defendant entered a guilty plea and received a total sentence of ten (10) years to serve in the Tennessee Department of Correction. Under the law he must serve 85% of that sentence before he is eligible for release. The State of Tennessee was represented by Assistant District Attorney General Matt Floyd.
“I commend Deputy Nickell of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department for his proactive work. While most of the citizens of Madison County were sleeping, he and other members of law enforcement, were out working to make the community safer for law-abiding people,” said District Attorney General Jody Pickens. “As I have stated many times, violent felons and firearms do not mix. When he was convicted of Second-Degree Murder, Carlos Coman forfeited his right to possess a firearm. Despite having been convicted of taking a life and being sent to prison, he chose to disregard the law and illegally arm himself.
“Due to the work of Deputy Nickell and Assistant District Attorney General Floyd, our community was made a safer place to live. It would have been better for all involved if the Defendant had made better choices. But as a reading of this release reveals, he chose criminality even after having previously served time in prison for an extremely violent offense.”
(PHOTO: Carlos Lavon Coman)
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