Father convicted of second-degree murder
Jury delivers guilty verdicts in case of Terry Patterson, charged in 3-year-old son’s death
A man charged with killing his 3-yearold son days after getting joint custody was convicted Friday of second-degree murder and other charges.
Graphic photos of Josiah Patterson's beaten body were shown in the trial, and Assistant District Attorney Josh Corman said the jury was asked to see things they won't be able to unsee.
"It's reprehensible," Corman said of the murder.
"It's unspeakable and it can't be tolerated."
The Shelby County Medical examiner ruled Josiah died from blunt-force trauma to his head. In addition to the seconddegree murder conviction, Terry Patterson was convicted of four other charges: voluntary manslaughter, aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect and aggravated child endangerment. He had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, but the jury convicted him of the two lesser charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
"We wanted something else, but I'm glad we got what we got," said the child's mother, Kerra Brown, after the verdict. "It was guilty — all counts. So I thank God for that."
Wearing a Spider-Man shirt in honor of her son who loved Spider-Man, she said, "I'm thankful my baby got justice."
"It was justice for all of the kids that ever got abused, period, by anybody. So anybody going through this, mother, father, y'all please seek help. Because losing a child is not worth ..." she said before walking away, too emotional to continue.
According to police, Patterson initially denied responsibility for Josiah's death but later signed a written statement admitting to beating the boy with his fist and with a belt after the child threw up on a table Sept. 4, 2015. In the statement, Patterson said the child referred to his mother's boyfriend as his father.
On the early morning of Sept. 5, 2015, Josiah was in cardiac arrest, unresponsive and not breathing. He was pronounced dead.
Patterson's attorney, Kathy Kent, asked the jury to consider if the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Patterson was the one who killed Josiah and pointed to a lack of DNA evidence connecting him to the crime.
Patterson had a daughter, 2-month old Terneesha LaVonne Patterson, who also died, according to an April 9, 1998, obituary. Her death was ruled Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to records associated with Patterson's divorce from the girl's mother. Patterson was not charged.
In a complaint for divorce, Verlena Patterson said she was at work and their daughter was in his care when the girl died. The coroner ruled SIDS, but according to the complaint for divorce, their older daughter was present and "has indicated consistently since then that (Terry Patterson) shook the baby and threw the baby on the bed and closed the door."
Information about the daughter was
“We wanted something else, but I'm glad we got what we got.”
pell, said, who is deaf, as her husband, Randy Chappell, translated. "But my daughter is different. Luckily she's a very stubborn girl and because of that she's persistent. And here we are."
"I've seen so many deaf people get arrested and them not getting a chance to tell their story," said Randy Chappell, DeafConnect's director of interpreting services.
What the officers learn in a few hours won't be extensive, Sheila Chappell said, signing the word for superficial or on surface in ASL, which is the fingers of one hand lightly rubbing the top of the other hand.
But it's important because these are the officers who work with the special populations and folks who might need extra patience, said Summer Chappell, DeafConnect's director of community services, and Sheila Chappell's daughter.
Most importantly, the officers need to know the laws pertaining to accommodations as dictated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, like not using children or family members of domestic violence and child abuse cases, Summer Chappell said.
"We're hoping that patrol will be able to have this and dispatch and supervisors and everybody," Summer Chappell said. "This insert is new for us, however, us responding to the calls is not new. So it's important that this be in our training so we can know how to deal with them," said CIT Officer Lisa McClinton, with MPD for 11 years. "I've made so many deaf calls, but you don't really know how to deal with them. When you know better you can do better."
For example, touch is an important part of the communication, but for an officer "hands are dangerous," McClinton said.
The officers learned simple things, like deaf people may need to point, to get a deaf person's attention by using blinking their flashlight, flashing the lights in a room off and on or by rapping on a table.
And a deaf person handcuffed from behind is silenced.
The officers got handouts with illustrations that show the alphabet in ASL and words like sick, hurt and ambulance.
This kind of training is no different than learning to communicate with an immigrant community, said Officer James Lash, assistant CIT coordinator.
"If we're going to send these guys out to handle these different type of calls, we need to have as many tools as we can provide," Lash said. "So why not have a connection with every community that we can get in."
Although the Chappells tried for years to get officers trained in ASL, it didn't happen until Lt. Col. Vincent E. Beasley, CIT coordinator, met the folks with DeafConnect, who told him that many in the deaf community are afraid of the police.
"I said 'well, we've got to change that'," Beasley said.
Since the new training component, he said, at least one officer has pulled over a deaf person and been able to communicate, even if it was by spelling out each letter of his words one at a time.
When the man shared the story of his ticket with the staff at DeafConnect, they did the happy dance, Summer Chappell said. "It kind of validates the program," Beasley said. Reach reporter Linda Moore at linda.moore@commercialappeal.com, on Facebook at Linda Anita Moore and on Twitter at @LindaAnita.