(Broward County Sheriffs office)
A 65-year-old man reportedly wants to show his manhood to a jury in Florida to prove that he didn’t strangle his girlfriend to death.
Richard Henry Patterson of Margate was arrested in November 2015 and charged with second-degree murder of his 60-year-old girlfriend, Francisca Marquinez.
Now, Patterson and his attorney Ken Padowitz are trying to show the jury at his trial his penis as evidence in an effort to prove them Marquinez choked to death while performing oral sex on him.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Patterson & Padowitz Are Using the ‘Rough Sex’ Defense
(Facebook)
Patterson hasn’t denied that he choked Marquinez to death on October 28, 2015. There’s just a discrepency in how he did so, his attorney said to the court.
Padowitz filed a motion in court in May 1 asking that Patterson be able to present his penis as evidence, arguing that doing so is “essential” to showing his case, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The motion said doing so is key to his argument that she choked on his penis while giving him oral sex. He is using the “rough sex” defense to argue in his favor. That specific defense has been used numerous times across the country to prove innocence of rape and sexual assault charges.
The defense claims that Marquinez died by accident while engaging in oral sex.
“Dr. (Ronald) Wright, an expert witness and former Broward County medical examiner, will testify that … her death is consistent with being accidentally sexually asphyxiated during oral sex,” Padowitz wrote in the motion obtained by the Sun Sentinel. “It is material and relevant. The view by the jury is essential for them to fully understand Dr. Wright’s testimony and the defense in this case.”
If the motion were to be allowed, it would take place outside of the public view with only the judge, jury, lawyers and defendent present.
The use of the defense strategy hasn’t sat well with Marquinez’s son, Omar Andrade.
“It’s a desperate man trying a desperate tactic,” Andrade said to the Sun Sentinel. “He’s just trying to get off the hook.”
Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to start May 15. So far, there’s been no news of when the judge in the case will rule on the motion.
2. Police Found Her Body at Their Apartment Complex
Francisca I. Marquinez (Coppola-Migliore Inc. Funeral Home)
Authorities received a call from Padowitz hours after Marquinez’s death telling them where her body was.
When detectives arrived to her apartment, they found her deceased body decomposing on a bed that was covered with a bed sheet.
Local 10 News reported that responding authorities found a bag that was filled with paper towels covered in blood and semen inside the kitchen. More blood was found inside of the apartment and on one of her fingers with the scene looking as if someone attempted to clean it, the arrest report said.
A medical examiner later determined that she had been dead for eight to 24 hours before discovering her body.
3. Patterson Said Odd Texts to His Daughter & a Friend
Patterson in a court hearing (YouTube)
The arrest warrant against Patteson says that he sent several texts to family and friends saying that he did something terrible.
The warrant said that he texted his daughter hours after he allegedly strangled Marquinez and apologized.
Your dad did something really bad last night and I’m so, so sorry.
Patterson allegedly texted a close family friend with a similar message, only this one talked about how he didn’t feel mentally right.
“My meds are making me crazy and I can’t function,” the text said.
Patterson contacted Padowitz and was transported to a mental hospital under the Florida Baker Act. The act allows the involuntary institutionalization examination of someone if there’s evidence that the person has a mental illness or could potentially cause harm to him or herself or to others.
Examinations at the mental health hospital can last up to 72 hours.
4. Neighbors Say the Couples’ Relationship Hit a Snag
Patterson and Marquinez both lived in the Royal Palm Garden complex in Homestead, Florida, and neighbors said the couple were in an argument at the time of Marquinez’s death.
Neighbors Eddie and Christianne Pathik told the Sun Sentinel that they weren’t getting along and Marquinez wanted to end their relationship not long before she was found dead.
“Two days before she died, they were arguing, shouting at each other,” Eddie said while translating for his Portuguese-speaking wife. “She was trying to break off the relationship.”
5. Marquinez Was Described as a Kind & Friendly Woman
The Royal Palm Garden apartment complex in Homestead, Florida. (Google Maps)
Marquinez’s son described her as a very friendly woman.
Andrade, who lives in New York, said that he met Patterson on just one or two occasions not long after the couple started a relationship back in the summer of 2015. He said that he was shocked by her alleged murder because he didn’t suspect Patterson being capable of such an act.
“I didn’t think anything of him in particular,” he said in an interview with the Sun Sentinel.
Hearing news of his mother’s death left him in complete shock, especially because she never once indicated she was having trouble in her relationship with Patterson.
