Bar owner’s husband charged in death
Broward County grand jury has indicted Patrick Palmer, the husband of the owner Chit Chat’s bar in Pompano Beach, on the charge of premeditated murder with a firearm.
Broward Sheriff’s of deputies found the body of Sherry Palmer on April 18 in the backyard of the Pompano Beach home she shared with her husband.
Palmer, 51, was the chef at the bar, and Sherry, 63, was the popular owner of the business at 651 N. Federal Highway. The bar is closed; efforts to reach the landlord were not successful.
Sherry’s younger sister, Mary “Micki” McCarthy, said at the time of Palmer’s arrest, “I’ve always said that Sherry was my rock. I am in awe of how many people loved her. She was truly a light. And she didn’t deserve this.”
Sherry had been dead approximately two days when worried employees called 911, according to police reports.
The panel in Fort Lauderdale handed up its decision Thursday. Palmer is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. He had applied for representation by the Broward Public Defender but was denied, court documents say. His counsel also will be discussed during Wednesday’s hearing.
A judge denied bond for Palmer, and he has been held in the main county jail in Fort Lauderdale since his April 24 arrest.
Court documents don’t provide a motive for the killing. Palmer told Broward Sheriff’s detectives that the couple argued about his illegal drug use when she found out he had relapsed.
He’d been smoking cocaine for the past six months, and was also taking prescription medication for back pain and drinking alcohol, according to an arrest affidavit.
On the day the couple fought, Sherry told a witness that if Palmer was using illegal drugs again, she would not go through that “hell” again and would leave her husband of two decades.
The next day, April 14, Sherry texted a witness and confirmed Palmer was using narcotics again.
That night, two neighbors heard gunfire, the affidavit said.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel .com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta