softheart
05-27-2005, 01:36 PM
Posted on Fri, May. 27, 2005
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Five federal marshals removed pardoned death row inmate Aaron Patterson from court Thursday after he refused U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer's requests to stay quiet. He later was allowed back in the courtroom in the company of nine marshals.
Patterson, 40, was charged last August with selling marijuana and attempting to buy four guns. On Thursday, his lawyer, Demitrus Evans, requested a delay to give her time to prepare for trial, but Pallmeyer said she could postpone proceedings only a few days.
That's when Patterson became disruptive.
"You've denied my due process," he said loudly. He told the judge she was "pulling a Jon Burge on me." Patterson has claimed in a lawsuit that former Chicago Police commander Burge tortured him into a false confession that landed him on death row.
The judge instructed Patterson to remain quiet, but when he continued his outburst and pointed a finger at her, the judge had him removed.
Patterson spent 17 years in prison for a murder conviction. He was pardoned when then-Gov. George Ryan emptied death row just before he left office in 2003 after it became known that more than a dozen death row inmates had been wrongly convicted.
Patterson is due for a competency hearing Friday afternoon in federal court.
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Five federal marshals removed pardoned death row inmate Aaron Patterson from court Thursday after he refused U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer's requests to stay quiet. He later was allowed back in the courtroom in the company of nine marshals.
Patterson, 40, was charged last August with selling marijuana and attempting to buy four guns. On Thursday, his lawyer, Demitrus Evans, requested a delay to give her time to prepare for trial, but Pallmeyer said she could postpone proceedings only a few days.
That's when Patterson became disruptive.
"You've denied my due process," he said loudly. He told the judge she was "pulling a Jon Burge on me." Patterson has claimed in a lawsuit that former Chicago Police commander Burge tortured him into a false confession that landed him on death row.
The judge instructed Patterson to remain quiet, but when he continued his outburst and pointed a finger at her, the judge had him removed.
Patterson spent 17 years in prison for a murder conviction. He was pardoned when then-Gov. George Ryan emptied death row just before he left office in 2003 after it became known that more than a dozen death row inmates had been wrongly convicted.
Patterson is due for a competency hearing Friday afternoon in federal court.