Jury convicts Patterson of third-degree murder
Tyrique “Ghetto” Patterson told a panel of Fayette County jurors that he shot Tony Thomas in self defense. His attorney asked the six-man, six-woman panel to acquit the 23-year-old father of two. But jurors apparently believed, as prosecutors contended, that Patterson shot Thomas with malice on Nov. 29 in the parking lot of South Hill Terrace in Brownsville, and convicted Patterson of third-degree murder.
The verdict, which took two and a half hours to reach, brought tears to both Thomas’ and Patterson’s families.
Many of the people there on behalf of the Thomas family walked out of the courtroom lamenting that Patterson had not been convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors sought that conviction, which would have resulted in an automatic life sentence for Patterson.
With the third-degree conviction, Patterson could face up to 20 to 40 years in prison. He was also convicted of robbery of a motor vehicle for stealing a vehicle after the shooting and criminal trespass. When Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi sentences Patterson later this month, the judge could run sentences for those charges consecutive to the murder sentence.
Thomas was shot in the left side of his neck and killed by Patterson around 3 a.m. on Nov. 29. The shooting, testified Patterson Wednesday, was an act of self defense because he was shot at by Thomas or one of the men with him first.
However, Patterson as well as his fianc’e, Tamika Withrow, acknowledged that neither saw Thomas with a gun. Withrow was outside before and after the shooting, according to testimony.
Several prosecution witnesses also testified that Thomas did not have a weapon at the time of the shooting. Those same witnesses told jurors that Patterson and Withrow were the aggressors.
But Patterson and Withrow said Thomas and other men with him were the aggressive ones that night, testimony defense attorney William Difenderfer told jurors they should consider as a reason to acquit his client.
“When someone feels a person is going to put a whoopin’ on him that will cause serious bodily injury or death, he is entitled to defend himself,” Difenderfer told jurors.
He also told the panel to consider that Patterson was afraid for his life when he ordered Michelle Bannish out of her car and fled the housing project. Patterson the fled to New Jersey, where his mother and sister live. He turned himself into police three days later, according to testimony.
“For the commonwealth to say he was fleeing from authorities defies all possible logic,” said Difenderfer.
District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon, however, told jurors that there was no evidence that Thomas was aggressive toward Patterson. She pointed to testimony that showed Patterson walking toward and shooting him without provocation with a .38-caliber revolver.
“In order to use a defense of self defense … you have to be met with deadly force. Your fears have to be reasonable,” said Vernon, noting that there was no prosecution testimony that painted Thomas as the aggressor.
At the end of her closing argument, Vernon asked jurors for a first-degree murder verdict to honor the life and the death of Thomas.