News (Media Awareness Project) - US AL: Ex-Cop's Try For Reduced Sentence Nixed |
| Title: | US AL: Ex-Cop's Try For Reduced Sentence Nixed |
| Published On: | 2006-09-01 |
| Source: | Mobile Register (AL) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-18 01:48:03 |
EX-COP'S TRY FOR REDUCED SENTENCE NIXED
Lawyers for a former undercover Mobile police officer convicted of
stealing drug money failed Thursday to get his prison sentence
reduced. Rodney Patrick, 39, was working in the department's
narcotics section in 2000 and 2001, according to court records, when
he pocketed nearly $5,000 earmarked for paying informants and buying drugs.
Patrick, who once won acclaim from the force as an officer of the
year, went to trial in late 2002 and was found guilty of two counts
of first-degree theft of property and two counts of second-degree
theft of property.
A month later, Circuit Judge Ferrill McRae gave Patrick a 10-year
sentence, then split it, ordering him to serve three years.
As a rule, split sentences mean that the felon must serve every day
of the modified punishment -- in Patrick's case, the full three years
McRae gave him. But on Thursday, with their client having served two
years and five months of the term, Patrick's attorneys Richard
Williams and John Wayne Boone asked McRae to allow him out early
because of family needs, court officials said. Patrick was not in
court Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich was there to argue against
the motion, telling McRae that the ex-officer should be made to pay
the full penalty. And as for the missing drug money, Rich told McRae
and said later outside court that Patrick had yet to repay "a dime"
of the $4,960 he was convicted of stealing.
Rich also stressed that in the year during which the case was under
appeal -- between the time he was convicted and the time he began
serving the three-year sentence -- Patrick made no effort to pay back
the stolen money. "He had a significant time period pending appeal
when he was working and not in the penitentiary and could have begun
paying back some of the court ordered (restitution)," Rich said.
Instead, she said, Patrick "scoffed at the courts." McRae ultimately
nixed the defense attorneys' request, which means Patrick must serve
another seven months in prison before going free.
Lawyers for a former undercover Mobile police officer convicted of
stealing drug money failed Thursday to get his prison sentence
reduced. Rodney Patrick, 39, was working in the department's
narcotics section in 2000 and 2001, according to court records, when
he pocketed nearly $5,000 earmarked for paying informants and buying drugs.
Patrick, who once won acclaim from the force as an officer of the
year, went to trial in late 2002 and was found guilty of two counts
of first-degree theft of property and two counts of second-degree
theft of property.
A month later, Circuit Judge Ferrill McRae gave Patrick a 10-year
sentence, then split it, ordering him to serve three years.
As a rule, split sentences mean that the felon must serve every day
of the modified punishment -- in Patrick's case, the full three years
McRae gave him. But on Thursday, with their client having served two
years and five months of the term, Patrick's attorneys Richard
Williams and John Wayne Boone asked McRae to allow him out early
because of family needs, court officials said. Patrick was not in
court Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich was there to argue against
the motion, telling McRae that the ex-officer should be made to pay
the full penalty. And as for the missing drug money, Rich told McRae
and said later outside court that Patrick had yet to repay "a dime"
of the $4,960 he was convicted of stealing.
Rich also stressed that in the year during which the case was under
appeal -- between the time he was convicted and the time he began
serving the three-year sentence -- Patrick made no effort to pay back
the stolen money. "He had a significant time period pending appeal
when he was working and not in the penitentiary and could have begun
paying back some of the court ordered (restitution)," Rich said.
Instead, she said, Patrick "scoffed at the courts." McRae ultimately
nixed the defense attorneys' request, which means Patrick must serve
another seven months in prison before going free.
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