Patterson sentencing: what the lawyers said
Michael spoke for him as defense counsel. He said: “Some 14 months ago when the indictments were handed down, the first person I called was Patterson. I knew that if the facts were true my friend was going to [be facing a great deal] and in spite of that wanted him to know he still had a friend, and that I did know that he was a good man who had made some terrible judgments.” He quoted the Proverbs passage about a good name being worth more than gold and then said that Patterson “has been a good servant to his friends and his community.”
Bob Norman spoke for the government, saying he was saying some things not so much for the court as because they were things Patterson needed to hear. Stated that when he first met Patterson they were combatants but the case came to the point where they were not. Patterson said that he would like Norman to believe he was a minor participant, and said, “Do you believe that this would have happened if I had been out of the country as I was when you were trying to find me to arrest me.” Norman decided that this was so, and that this meant Patterson was a minor participant. Patterson was the second person to take responsibility in this case and was available to testify. “I will need him in the future. I believe he will testify truthfully.”
NMC
2/13/9
Magnolia Tribune
