‘Can they draw a jury that’s impartial?’: Lawyer provides possible outcomes for Patterson
BARRON COUNTY, Wis. — While the nation remains on standby until February 6, many are wondering what will happen next in court for Jake Thomas Patterson, the 21-year-old man charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery.
“He has a right to a jury trial. He has a right for the state to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt,” Timothy Verhoff said.
Verhoff is a defense attorney with no ties to the Closs case.
“People are presumed to be innocent until proven otherwise so it could be a situation where they’re going in and telling the prosecution to prove the case,” Verhoff added.
If Patterson pleads not guilty, and this goes to trial, Verhoff said getting an impartial jury may be challenging.
What happens next if #JAYMECLOSS‘s kidnapper pleads not guilty? I’ll have the answer to that and other possible outcomes tonight at 5 and 6 on #News3 pic.twitter.com/Qtt5qSKrX1
— Jamie Perez (@JamiePerezTV) January 15, 2019
“Can they get a fair trial where this case is? Obviously, this case had national media attention but this case is so much in this community, the question is can they draw a jury that’s impartial?” Verhoff said.
If this case does go to trial, Patterson’s defense attorneys would take on the task of reviewing police reports, and seeing if the information was obtained properly.
“Did police do everything properly in terms of questioning him and follow all the protocol they’re supposed to follow in questioning?” Verhoff said.
If for any reason, Patterson’s statements were not obtained properly, Verhoff said there could be “reasons of a legal ability to have his statements thrown out of court.”
The charges filed against Patterson right now pertain to Barron County. If there are additional charges pending in Douglas County, where Patterson’s home was, there could be another trial and sentencing there as well.
“Depending on what the sentence is, there may be a decision not to charge the other offenses because the additional time in a practical manner doesn’t make a difference on the outcome,” Verhoff said.
Verhoff doesn’ think that it is likely Patterson will face another trial in Douglas County, especially if it meant putting Jayme Closs on the stand.
“Things that happened after she was kidnapped aren’t necessarily relevant to the murders and the kidnapping,” Verhoff said. “So those are things you don’t want to necessarily do as a prosecutor to get victims up and talk about that have no bearing on the outcome of the underlying case.”
Verhoff said it is up to Patterson whether or not he wants this case to go to trial, but doesn’t think pleading insanity would be an option if he did.
“I don’t think this is an insanity case,” Verhoff said. “He went through such great lengths to conceal his identity, so that shows he had a knowledge that what he was doing was wrong.”
Patterson is scheduled to appear in Barron County court on Feb. 6 at 11 a.m.
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