Question looms as trial begins: Will accused show penis to jury?

Jury selection is underway in the trial of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend in 2015, but a Broward County judge is still weighing whether to allow the defendant to expose his penis to the jury as part of his case.

Richard Henry Patterson, 65, of Margate, is charged with seconddegree murder and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the 2015 death of Francisca Marquinez, 60, whose lifeless body was found in her Royal Park Gardens apartment in late October 2015.

Prosecutors say Patterson choked her to death and left her body to decompose for several days before leading detectives to her apartment. Defense lawyer Ken Padowitz said Marquinez’s death was unintentional — that she choked on Patterson’s penis during oral sex.

In a motion filed this month, Padowitz said the jury needs to see Patterson’s penis to fully understand the defense.

In court Monday, prosecutor Peter Sapak had no objection to the motion, but Broward Circuit Judge Lisa Porter declined to say whether she would allow it and, if so, under what circumstances.

Sapak said the decision could come only after the judge hears from defense expert Ronald Wright, a former chief medical examiner for Broward County who is prepared to testify that the autopsy is consistent with gagging as a cause of death.

“We did argue that the penis should be erect because the state of the penis, whether it was erect or flaccid, is an issue in this particular case,” Sapak said. “The defense feels that it is not [relevant], and we’ll have to hear the testimony of Dr. Wright to determine if it is.”

The autopsy results were inconclusive — the medical examiner was unable to determine a cause or manner of death. According to prosecutors, part of the reason for the medical uncertainty stems from what happened after Marquinez died.