Patterson ejected from courtroom

  

July 20, 2007 (WLS) -- A man pardoned from death row was removed from court Friday following a courtroom outburst. Aaron Patterson was ejected from his sentencing hearing on drug and gun charges.

Friday afternoon, several community activists took to the stand and praised Patterson's work against the death penalty, police torture and the Iraq war. However, Patterson wasn't in the courtroom to hear the kind words

Another angry outburst, another courtroom expulsion for Aaron Patterson. This time it took five deputy US Marshals to wrestle the former death row inmate to the ground then drag him out of the courtroom. Watching it all was Aaron's mother Joann Patterson

"This time he doesn't just want to sit there and take it," said Joann Patterson, mother.

Patterson became perturbed when a series of rulings at his sentencing hearing didn't go his way.

"Justice ain't in this courtroom," Patterson shouted. "I'll have you removed from this courtroom," Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer warned. "Remove yourself from the bench," Patterson responded.

"The last time he was on trial for something he didn't do, he didn't say anything, and he was sent to death row," said Joann Patterson.

"He speaks his mind. His mind is telling him he's not getting a fair trial. He's hearing what the judge is saying, it appears the judge already got her mind made up, Why should I waste my time being here?" said Nathson Fields, former death row inmate.

Judge Pallmeyer is the same person who presided over former Governor George Ryan's corruption trial. Ryan is the one who pardoned Patterson. His supporters see a conspiracy.

Prosecutors say, wrongful conviction or not, Patterson learned nothing from his time in prison. After his release, an undercover sting snared Patterson trying buy guns and drugs. Patterson claims he asked for replica guns as part of his own sting to uncover police corruption.

In a 2005 jailhouse interview, Patterson explained his actions this way:

"I don't know what cases come to do some of the things do I. I kick myself later on and say, you know what, sometimes you get yourself into situations and sometimes it's a life and death-type situation.," Patterson said in July, 2005.

A psychiatrist testified Friday that post-traumatic stress disorder caused by police torture is the reason Aaron Patterson acts up. At one point during this trial he physically attacked his own attorney.

Sentencing will resume Monday, but it is unclear whether Aaron Patterson will be allowed to return to the courtroom.

Patterson was arrested during a sting operation. He was found guilty in summer of 2005 of drug and weapons conspiracy. He could get up to 30 years in prison.

Patterson is known for spending 17 years behind bars before he was pardoned by former Governor George Ryan.

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