Caprecio Patterson's attorney said in September his client was going to use an alibi defense.However at a court hearing Friday, Patterson made no mention of an alibi but rather admitted guilt.The 30-year-old Patterson pleaded guilty to delivery of crack cocaine, in exchange for which another charge was dropped. Circuit Judge Cynthia Raccuglia then sentenced Patterson -- per Patterson's agreement with prosecutor Ryan Cantlin -- to nine years in prison. The sentencing range permitted by law was between four and 15 years in prison; probation was not an option because of the amount of cocaine involved."I do indeed wish you good luck," Raccuglia told Patterson, just before Patterson shuffled from the courtroom and back to the county jail to await transfer to prison next week.Patterson's case began in spring 2005, when he was charged with selling more than six grams of crack cocaine for $300 to an informant working with the state police drug task force. Police paid the informant $1,000 for his work.A prosecutor described Patterson as having been a "heavy player" in the Streator drug scene, who investigators had been trailing for four years.A jury found Patterson guilty in August 2005 and Raccuglia sentenced him the following November to 12 years in prison. As that sentence stood, Patterson had been set for parole Feb. 1, 2011.However, Patterson took his case to Third District Appellate Court in Ottawa, where justices ruled the prosecution did not give material to Patterson and his attorney -- material prosecutors later used at trial against Patterson -- as required through the legal process known as discovery. With his conviction overturned, Patterson was removed from prison and returned to the La Salle County Jail to await new proceedings.Patterson's attorney at his 2005 trial was public defender Tim Cappellini. However, after he won his appeal, he hired Aurora attorney and former judge, Fred Morelli Jr. The 67-year-old Morelli also ran for judge this year as a Republican in Kane County, but lost.Patterson has already been in custody for more than three years, time which will be subtracted from his new nine-year sentence. He will also be eligible for good behavior reductions in prison that will likely subtract more than four years, meaning he could be released in about one year.A relative of Patterson's, 22-year-old Demetrius Patterson, was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the 2005 cocaine deal. Around the same time in Cook County, Demetrius was also sentenced to three years in prison for robbery. Demetrius has since left prison, but was arrested in two separate incidents in June in Ottawa on complaints of battery and trespass. In the trespass case, he was accused of refusing to leave the courthouse on Etna Road.
Timothy “Fuzzy” Timms, a 45-year-old member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club, stood up Monday for his First Amendment right to freedom of expressi
Timothy “Fuzzy” Timms, a 45-year-old member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club, stood up Monday for his First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Timms, a resident of the San Diego community of South Park, refused to take off a black leather vest with the motorcycle club's “death's head” insignia when he reported for jury duty. He's a big burly man, 5 feet 8 inches, 250 pounds, with a full beard and auburn-colored, shoulder-length hair. At 7:45 a.m., Timms' stance got him booted from the San Diego Superior Court's Hall of Justice by sheriff's deputies, along with another Hells Angel who also refused to remove his insignia vest. Nine hours later, representatives of both the Superior Court and the sheriff's department apologized to Timms and club member Mick Rush for “misunderstanding” an order issued April 24 by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser. Rush also had been reporting for jury duty. “It all boils down to a misunderstanding of Judge Fraser'
Comments