MURDER OF GIRL BLAMED ON LSD USE

A Lawyer Says His Client Didn't Mean To Kill

VICTORIA -- A macho challenge between a young man and his friends about
who could take the most LSD led to the death of an 11-year-old Port
Alberni girl, the man's defence lawyer told his trial on Monday.

Roderick Jonathan Patten is facing a charge of first-degree murder in
the July 31, 1996, death of Jessica States, a youngster known around
town because she was always hanging out at a baseball park near her
home. Patten, now 23, is pleading innocent to the charge.

Evidence against Patten includes DNA matches between his blood and semen
taken from Jessica's body and a video-taped interview in which Patten
admits to killing the little girl, Crown counsel David Kidd told the
jury in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria.

But 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 little girl. Instead the
charge should be manslaughter, he argued.

In his opening remarks to the jury, Heller recounted Patten's
"undirected" life of drug abuse, including the LSD challenge. "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 in
the jury.

Although Patten is not required under Canadian law to testify, Heller
promised the jury that his client will take the stand to relate what
happened. "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."