Murder suspect with ‘big penis’ defence found NOT GUILTY
Florida man had requested to show jury his genitals
Wednesday, 24th May 2017
A Florida man who claimed his girlfriend choked to death during oral sex has been found not guilty of second-degree murder.
Richard Patterson, 65, of Margate, was acquitted of killing 60-year-old girlfriend Francisca Marquinez in 2015, according to the Sun Sentinel.
He admitted killing her but denied it was deliberate.
Peter Sapak, assistant state attorney, asked why Patterson – who did not testify at the trial – did not call 911 after his girlfriend died.
His defence argued that he was ’embarrassed and humiliated’ that his girlfriend had died as a result of giving him oral sex.
'Unlikely cause of death'
The verdict, which jurors deliberated on for five hours, came at the end of a week-long trial.
If he had been convicted, he would have faced life in prison.
Patterson’s lawyers initially argued that Marquinez died accidentally while performing oral sex on him.
But after a medical expert testified that choking during the sex act was unlikely, the defence reversed course on the theory.
Prior to that, and in an effort bolster their defence, Patterson’s lawyers filed a motion to show his penis to the jury.
The judge never ruled on this request.
“That’s not the way she died,” defence lawyer Ken Padowitz said.
“But that’s the way Richard Patterson thought she died.”
According to the Sun Sentinel, Padowitz said that the cause of Marquinez’s death is still unknown – and that her body was too badly decomposed to find out.
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