Husband gets 40 years after attack is recorded
Wife’s phone captured habitual offender’s attack on her at home
A cellphone recording documented an attack a woman endured at the hands of her husband, leading to the convicted Conroe drug dealer’s four-decade sentence.
After less than an hour of deliberation, a Montgomery County jury last week found Walter Henry Paterson, 37, guilty of the felony offense of assault, family strangulation in presiding Judge Phil Grant’s 9th District Court.
After hearing testimony and learning of Paterson’s previous convictions, jurors sentenced him to 40 years in prison, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Jurors heard audio of Paterson assaulting his wife as prosecutors played a cellphone recording the woman made, according to District Attorney Office.
The attack took place in early April at the Paterson family home when Walter Paterson, who was drinking heavily, became agitated with the children not completing chores. When his wife tried to intervene, he attacked her in front of the kids, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Charging documents filed by a Conroe police detective show that the woman, knowing Paterson’s previous aggressive behavior, started recording herself approaching her husband about how he was treating the children. The audio, documents state, corroborated her account of the attack.
She described Paterson grabbing her arms, painfully twisting them in front of her. She said he grabbed her around her throat, strangling her and causing pain to her vocal cords. He threw her to the floor, leaving her with a rug burn on an elbow, and then got on top of her to hold her down, according to court documents.
The women and children fled their home, seeking safety with a family friend, according to the DA’s Office.
Experts gave testimony regarding domestic violence and the lethal nature of assaults involving strangulation, the office said.
After Paterson’s conviction, Assistant District Attorney Tamara Tyler and Chief Prosecutor Laura Bond brought to jurors his previous convictions on possession of a controlled substance and manufacture, delivery of a controlled substance, the office said. This made Paterson a habitual offender subject to a punishment of 25 to 99 years or life.
Jurors also heard evidence of prior assaults by Paterson against his wife and of continued misconduct while jailed on his current charges, the office added.
“Montgomery County is an incredibly conservative jurisdiction. My opinion is that if this case had been prosecuted in Harris County or Galveston County, the results probably would have been different,” said Charles Thompson, Paterson’s defense attorney.
The Houston-based lawyer said his client was steadfast in maintaining his innocence.