LSD BINGE LINKED TO KILLING

Lawyer Tells Court Man Too Impaired To Be Convicted Of Murdering Girl, 11

One aimless punk and an LSD-eating contest may add up to one dead
child but it still doesn't equal murder, court heard Monday.

Roderick Jonathan Patten is charged with first-degree murder in the
July 31, 1996, death of Jessica States, an 11-year-old Port Alberni
girl known for hanging out at a baseball park near her home. Patten,
now 23, is pleading not guilty.

The evidence amassed against Patten includes DNA matches to semen
taken from Jessica's body after it was found on Aug. 1, 1996, and a
videotaped interview in which Patten admits to killing the girl.

But in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria Monday, Patten's lawyer Jim
Heller said Jessica's death wasn't murder. Heller said his client had
consumed too much alcohol, marijuana and LSD to form the clear intent
to actually kill the girl. Instead, it should be manslaughter, Heller
said.

In his opening remarks to the jury, Heller said that around the time
of the killing Patten's life was going nowhere and he was making
money buying and trading drugs.

``He was a punk. He was living an undirected life,'' Heller said.

On the day of the killing, Patten and some pals got into a ,game of
macho challenges over who could eat the most LSD. ``Then, in some
ridiculous gesture, (Patten) took a whole lot of it,'' said Heller.

``He lost the ability to appreciate his actions. He lost the ability
to appreciate the result of his actions,'' Heller told the three
women and nine men on the jury.

Heller promised the jury that Patten will take the stand to relate
what happened, though he doesn't have to under the Canadian justice
system.

``He wants to tell you his side of this tragic story,'' said Heller.
``He awoke to his nightmare too, along with the rest of Port
Alberni.''

In his opening to the jury, Crown counsel David Kidd told the jury it
could expect to hear pathology experts testify about the sexual
nature of injuries found on Jessica's body.

It would hear how semen was extracted and sent for DNA analysis. That
DNA analysis from the semen was later matched to DNA analysis
performed on blood samples taken from Patten, Kidd told the jury.

And he promised a videotaped interview in which Patten admits to
killing Jessica.

``The Crown is confident you will find beyond any reasonable shadow
of doubt that Mr. Patten is responsible in law for the first-degree
murder of Jessica States,'' he said.

Kidd painted a verbal picture of Jessica as a ``kid who lived for baseball.''

``She was always at the ballpark which was just two doors down from
her home,'' said Kidd. ``This was her turf. This was her
neighbourhood.''

He said most of the ball players knew Jessica because she was always
at the games pestering teams to be appointed bat girl. If no team
wanted her to mind the bats, she headed off to the edges of the park
to chase fly and foul balls. Kids like Jessica could earn a dollar
for every ball they returned to the concession stand.

Dianne States, Jessica's mother, described her daughter as a little
tomboy. On July 31, 1996, Jessica ate supper at home before heading
to the nearby ballpark around 6:20 p.m., the court heard. Jessica's
dad was getting ready for bed because he was working an early shift
the next day.

By 9:30, Dianne States was concerned enough to go out to the park and
look for Jessica. When she could find no sign of her daughter, she
headed for home.

``I returned home and woke up my husband and told him something was wrong.''

Steve Adams, a Port Alberni resident who volunteers with the local
search-and-rescue society, testified how he found Jessica's body.

Adams described how searchers and volunteers formed a tight line and
began a systematic grid search of a wooded park area across the
street from the ballpark. It was during this search that Adams
noticed a fallen tree stripped of its bark. Close by, bark was laid
around in a patchwork pattern.

``It was strictly pieces of bark,'' said Adams. ``I flipped one over
and I found the body.''