Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Patterson, a convicted bank robber who was paroled less than a year before the Oct. 19 killing, told police he was on a crack cocaine binge at the time and had no memory of the incident.
Testimony and physical evidence presented Tuesday did little more to explain why Johnson, 30, was stabbed in the chest during an apparent scuffle at Patterson's apartment on Westside Boulevard Northwest.
"One of the frustrating things, probably for both sides here, is that there are certain things we will never know about what happened in that apartment," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said.
There was no indication of an argument between Patterson and Johnson, who had known each other since high school.
The closest thing to an eyewitness was Patterson's roomate, David Harrington, who testified he was taking a shower the night of the killing when he heard a thump in the living room.
Harrington said he stepped out of the bathroom in time to see Patterson, with a knife in his hand, on top of Johnson on the living room floor. But Harrington said he did not see the actual stabbing.
"I told him he was going to jail," Harrington testified. "He said, 'Who are you, the police?'"
Harrington testified that Patterson ripped the telephone from the wall when he tried to call for help. Harrington then fled from the apartment.
Patterson also ran several minutes later, and tried to talk to a police officer he encountered several blocks away. But the officer, who was responding to a report of the stabbing, told Patterson he didn't have time to talk to him.
Several hours later, Patterson turned himself in to police. In a statement, he said he could not remember the incident with Johnson. He had been smoking a large amount of crack that night, and the last thing he remembered was seeing Johnson messing with his drugs, Patterson told police.
Police found crack and marijuana in the apartment when they arrived shortly after midnight, as well as several guns.
Patterson did not testify. Defense attorney Tony Anderson presented no evidence, but argued that prosecutors, at best, had proved only a case of voluntary manslaughter.
Branscom and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Nagel had argued that Patterson should be convicted of first-degree murder.
Patterson, who will be sentenced later, faces up to 40 years in prison.
In 1989, Patterson was convicted of robbing a Roanoke bank in what he called a desperate effort to get help for his $400-a-day crack habit. He was sentenced to seven years and was released on parole in December 1992.
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