The Messenger

Wednesday, February 25, 1998

Patterson not guilty of murder
 

A Pike County jury found Wynona Patterson not guilty of murder in the shooting death of her husband, Michael Patterson, that occurred at their home in Brundidge on Nov. 24, 1995.

At the end of the trial that began with jury selection last Tuesday, the jurors heard arguments from attorneys for both Patterson and the prosecuting office of the district attorney.

"I think the moral of this story is there is no help for a battered woman," said Frank Martin, Patterson's attorney.

The jury by its not guilty verdict implied that it agreed with Patterson's defense of justifiable homicide that resulted from battered spouse syndrome.

Twelfth Circuit Court Judge Thomas Head gave the jurors three options before they began deliberating. They could choose between not guilty, guilty of murder or guilty of manslaughter.

"You can send a message to (Brundidge police officer Jeff) Bundy and all the police officers in Brundidge, Ala., that when you have a lady (suffering domestic violence) you take these reports seriously.

"We're behind in this country about women. We protect our children from abuse, but not our women," Martin told the jurors.

"Mr. Bundy said he had been to the academy and had a course in domestic violence. Well, I didn't see any evidence of it," said Martin.

Bundy's testimony was scrutinized during the trial. He was one of the first officers on the scene the night of the slaying and had also taken a report from Patterson in which she alleged her husband had abused her.

There was repeated testimony that she was advised of her options to seek help from numerous sources but refused to do so in fear of her husband's reaction if he found out.

Patterson told the jury that her husband came home later than normal on Nov. 24, 1995 and that the children had already eaten. She said he accosted her daughter, Anna, in the kitchen. Patterson said the couple's son came into the kitchen and she took him to a nearby laundry for his protection.

She said she got a .357 revolver and approached the two in the hallway, struggling with him because he would not release her daughter.

She fired all six shots from the revolver, striking her husband four times. He was found dead in the hallway.

Patterson's attorney presented a paper trail three years long that covered reports to police and medical personnel of injuries suffered at the hands of her husband.

The first account Patterson related of abuse happened when she was five months pregnant. Testimony implied the abuse continued, or worsened during the remainder of the three-year marriage.

During the trial Anna sat outside the courtroom. Her father, $40,000 in arrears in child support payments, testified on behalf of the prosecution.

Martin argued before the jurors that Patterson never took actions to protect herself, but that her maternal instinct drove her to kill her husband when he began attacking Anna.

In a brief conversation with Patterson, she expressed the same concern for her children. She said that Anna had been president of the Pike County High School FFA club and had won a scholarship.

Patterson said the scholarship was withdrawn after the shooting.

Anna's vigil was constant during the trial, sitting outside the courtroom with a worried look unfitting a teenage girl.

Her mother sat in the court-room and sobbed, constantly writing notes on a yellow legal pad.

In the margin was a note, perhaps to herself. She said she wrote it during the "worst part of the trial."

The marginal note of Wynona Patterson read: "Human suffering is a world condition. Love is eternal."

THE MARTIN FIRM, LLP
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