Ex-death row inmate turned advocate gets 30 years in prison
A former death row inmate who became a symbol of a badly broken criminal justice system harangued prosecutors and denounced a federal judge Tuesday before being sentenced to 30 years in prison for trading in guns and drugs.
Aaron Patterson, who prosecutors claimed coordinated gang activities even as he served 17 years in prison for a double murder he has insisted he didn't commit, made a 45-minute expletive-laden statement to the court before his sentence was read.
"You're going to put me down for a high sentence, but I'll be back. Back with a vengeance," said Patterson, his hands and ankles bound as he spoke from the defense table flanked by three federal marshals.
Just before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer read the sentence, Patterson -- who faced repeated reprimands for angry outbursts during the hearing that stretched over four days -- asked to be led from the courtroom, indicating he would react badly to anything the judge said. He was taken out immediately.
Patterson spent his 17 years in prison -- 13 of them on death row -- proclaiming his innocence and claiming he was framed by Chicago homicide detectives who tortured him. In January 2003, then-Gov. George Ryan pardoned him, saying there was no credible evidence against him. Ryan also pardoned three other men and commuted the sentences of all other death row inmates to life without parole.
After his release, Patterson pledged to spend his life exposing police misconduct and corruption. He filed a lawsuit against city and county officials who sent him to death row and refused a $4 million settlement offer from the city.
But in 2005 he was convicted on drug and gun charges.
On Tuesday, Pallmeyer cited Patterson's violent behavior as a teenager and later in prison. She called Patterson talented and said he should have done more with his life after being pardoned.
"It's a real tragedy that a man with such obvious brains and charisma ... did not use those skills as he could have," Pallmeyer said.