On
this date, September 17, 2002, Jessie Joe Patrick was executed by lethal
injection in Texas. He was convicted of murdering 80-year-old Nina Rutherford
Redd on July 8, 1989. DNA evidence had proven his guilt.
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/patrick798.htm
Summary: In July 1989 Patrick broke into the
home of a neighbor, 80 year old Nina Rutherford Redd, through a bathroom
window. Redd was sexually assaulted before having her throat slashed. Patrick
ransacked the home before leaving and was later arrested in Mississippi. A
blood-soaked sock was found in the home of Patrick. DNA matched the DNA in
Redd's blood sample. Patrick's live-in girlfriend identified the knife found at
the scene as theirs. Patrick confessed to the crime shortly after his arrest,
but later recanted. Patrick had been convicted of Aggravated Assault in 1986
and sentenced to 4 years probation, which was later revoked.
Patrick v. State, 906 S.W. 2d 481 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995).
Final Meal:
None.
Final Words:
Patrick made no final statement.
Internet Sources:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Jessie Patrick)
Texas Attorney General Media Advisory
MEDIA
ADVISORY - Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 - Jesse Joe Patrick Scheduled to be
Executed.
AUSTIN
- Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Jesse
Joe Patrick, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17,
2002.
On
April 16, 1990, Jesse Joe Patrick was sentenced to die for the capital murder
of Nina Rutherford Redd in Pleasant Grove, Texas, on July 8, 1989. A summary of
the evidence presented at trial follows:
FACTS
OF THE CRIME
On
July 8, 1989, 80-year-old Nina Rutherford Redd's partially clad body was found
on the floor of her bedroom in Pleasant Grove near Dallas. Her throat had been
slashed, one of her arms was twisted behind her back, and her face and body
were covered with bruises. The window screen had been pried loose from a
bathroom window, and a rusty butcher knife was found at the scene.
Jesse
Joe Patrick called the police in the early morning hours of July 8 to report
that his house, two doors from Redd's, had been burglarized. When police went
to Patrick's house to investigate, no one was home. The back door was kicked
in, and a large rock covered with blood was found on the side of the house.
Police
searched Patrick's home the next day and found a man's sock that was saturated
with dried blood, a number of wadded toilet tissues that had dried blood on
them and an old pair of men's denim jeans that had suspicious stains. Analysis
of the sock showed genetic markers that were consistent with genetic markers
found in Redd's blood sample, and DNA testing on the bloody sock and
blood-soaked tissues matched the DNA in Redd's blood sample. A partial palm
print from the outside sill of the bathroom window was identified as belonging
to Patrick. Patrick's live-in girlfriend identified the knife found in Redd's
home as hers and Patrick's. Three hairs found at the scene were the same as
Patrick's. On July 22, 1989, Patrick was arrested at his sister's home in
Jackson, Mississippi.
PROCEDURAL
HISTORY
Patrick
was convicted of capital murder in the 282nd District Court of Dallas County
and sentenced to death on April 16, 1990. His conviction and sentence were
affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on June 28, 1995, and his
petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court
on March 25, 1996. Patrick also filed a state habeas corpus application, which
the Court of Criminal Appeals denied on April 22, 1998.
Patrick
then filed a federal habeas petition, which the district court denied on Aug.
23, 2000. After the district court disposed of several post-judgment motions
filed by Patrick, he attempted to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit, but both the district court and the Fifth Circuit denied
him a certificate of appealability to do so. He then filed a petition for writ
of certiorari, which was denied by the Supreme Court on Sept. 12, 2002.
Patrick's motion for a stay of execution was also denied on Sept. 12, 2002.
In
addition to his appeal and habeas corpus proceedings, Patrick filed a motion
for DNA testing in the state trial court. Following a hearing, the trial court
ruled that Patrick was not entitled to testing under Chapter 64 of the Texas
Code of Criminal Procedure because there was no reasonable probability that
favorable DNA results would have led to an acquittal. Because Patrick was
willing to pay the costs of DNA testing, the court ruled that he could have
testing at his expense. The State appealed that ruling to the Court of Criminal
Appeals and also filed a petition for writ of mandamus to force the trial judge
to rescind her order. On Sept. 11, 2002, the Court of Criminal Appeals
dismissed the State's appeal but granted mandamus relief. The court held that
because Patrick did not meet the statute's requirements, he was not entitled to
testing regardless of whether he was willing to bear the costs.
PRIOR
CRIMINAL HISTORY
On
Jan. 6, 1986, Patrick was convicted of aggravated assault in the Criminal District
Court Number Five of Dallas County and sentenced to eight years probation. On
July 17, 1986, his probation was revoked and he was sentenced to imprisonment
for four years.
Jessie
Patrick was convicted of the 1989 robbery, assault and murder of 80-year-old
Nina Rutherford Redd in Pleasant Grove, near Dallas. Nina's battered body was
found in her bedroom. Her house had been ransacked. Evidence that tied Patrick
to the murder was found in his nearby home and included a sock and toilet paper
soaked with the victim's blood. Prosecutors also introduced into evidence a
palm print found on Nina's open bathroom window and bite marks on her arm. The
murder weapon, a knife found at the scene, was identified as belonging to
Patrick. Sperm was found in Nina's body, and an officer testified she had been
raped. Patrick confessed to the crime and said he had been drinking before the
killing. He said he broke into the house and tried unsuccessfully to have sex
with Nina. He wrote in his confession that he slit her throat with the knife,
then added, "I don't really remember cutting her throat."
UPDATE:
A Texas man convicted of raping and killing an 80-year-old woman in a 1989
attack was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday. Jessie Joe Patrick, 44, was
the 25th person put to death this year in Texas. Patrick was condemned for the
rape and murder of neighbor Nina Redd at her Dallas home on July 8, 1989.
Patrick made no last statement and requested no last meal.
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Jessie
Joe Patrick, 44, was executed by lethal injection on 17 September in
Huntsville, Texas for the burglary and murder of an 80-year-old woman.
In
the early morning of 8 July 1989, Jessie Joe Patrick, then 31, broke into the
home of Nina Rutherford Redd. Redd lived two doors down from Patrick, and she
had previously given money and food to him and his live-in teenage girlfriend.
She had also let them inside her house to use the telephone in the past.
Patrick pried the window screen loose from a bathroom window and went inside.
He beat Redd, 80, and attempted to rape her. He then slashed her throat with a
butcher knife and ransacked the house.
Patrick
called police later that morning to report that his house had been burglarized.
When police arrived to investigate, no one was home. They noticed that the back
door was kicked in, and a large rock, covered in blood, was on the side of the
house. After Redd's body was discovered, police searched Patrick's house. They
found a man's blood-soaked sock, some stained blue jeans, and some bloody,
wadded toilet tissues. The sock and tissues were DNA tested, and the blood
matched the victim's. A partial handprint from outside Redd's bathroom window
was matched to Patrick. Furthermore, hairs found at the murder scene matched
Patrick, as did teeth marks on the victim's body. Patrick's girlfriend
identified the rusty butcher knife used to kill Redd as belonging to him.
Patrick was arrested two weeks later at his sister's home in Mississippi. When
officers arrived, he was hiding under a bed.
In
his written confession, Patrick stated that had been drinking before the
killing. He wrote that he broke into the house and tried unsuccessfully to have
sex with Redd. He wrote that he slit her throat with the knife, then added,
"I don't really remember cutting her throat." Although sperm was
found on the victim's body, it was not tested and Patrick was not charged with
rape.
Patrick
had a previous conviction for aggravated assault and was sentenced to four
years in prison. (It was his second time to be charged with aggravated assault;
the charges were dropped the first time.) He served four months from September
1985 to January 1986 and then was released on "shock probation." He
was returned on a probation violation in July 1986. He was released again on
parole 5½ months later. (At the time, early release was common in Texas due to
strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne
Justice.) In May 1987, Patrick received another sentence of one year's
probation for a DWI conviction.
A
jury convicted Patrick of capital murder in April 1990 and sentenced him to
death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and sentence
in June 1995. The CCA denied his state habeas corpus petition in April 1998,
and a U.S. district court denied his federal habeas corpus appeal in August
2000.
In
2001, the Texas legislature passed a law allowing DNA tests for capital murder
convicts who could show a reasonable probability that they would have been
acquitted with favorable DNA test results. In September 2001, Patrick requested
a DNA test on the sperm found on Redd's body. A state district judge determined
that Patrick did not qualify for a DNA test because the physical evidence of
his guilt was overwhelming. However, when Patrick offered to pay for the test
with private funds, the judge agreed. The funds were raised by Patrick's wife,
Hester, a British woman who he met as a pen pal and married by proxy in 1997.
The
state appealed this ruling, claiming that the new DNA testing law does not
allow judges to authorize post-conviction DNA tests in unqualified cases,
regardless of who paid for them. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed,
and on 11 September 2002, it overruled the state district judge's decision. The
U.S. Supreme Court denied Patrick's appeal on 12 September.
At
Patrick's execution, his lawyer, Keith Hampton, claimed that Patrick was
constitutionally ineligible for execution because he was mentally retarded.
Neither Hampton nor any of Patrick's other lawyers ever raised a mental
retardation claim in court, however, nor did they ever have his IQ tested.
Patrick
declined requests for interviews and made no last statement. He was pronounced
dead at 6:17 p.m.
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