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Jury urged to convict Patnode ofBy Jim O'HaraStaff WriterAn Onondaga County prosecutor today dismissed Roland Patnode’s self-defense testimony as sugar-coating” and called on the jury to convict the defendant of intentionally murdering transvestite David McLaughlin last fall.“It’s anger that brought about this homicide,” Chief Assistant District Attorney John Duncan told the jury today. It's anger that brought this defendant to murder David McLaughlin. It’s nothing new; anger is an age-old emotion. There’s nothing mysterious here.”But defense attorney James Meggesto argued m his summation that Duncan failed to prove Patnode intentionally murdered the victim. Instead, he asked the jury to accept Patnode’s self-defense theory.Remember, this was an‘emergency situation/’ he said, “a very highly charged, emotional, physical occurrence j that transpired over a period of seconds/’The jury of nine men and three women was to begin deciding later today which theory to accept based on the three days of testimony they heard last week.County Court Judge Patrick Cunningham was instructing the jurors late this morning on the law governing the case. But the judge also was giving the jury a variety of options to consider as lesser charges.In addition to second-degree murder, the jurors will be allowed to consider first- and second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.A murder conviction carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison.But Meggesto today argued there was “substantial doubt” about Patnode’s intention on the morning he stabbed McLaughlin after discovering the victim was actually a man dressed as a female prostitute.The stabbing occurred in Patnode’s pickup truck Oct. 1 after McLaughlin performed a sex act on the defendant.There were only two people in thattruck the rooming of Oct-1,” the defense attorney said. “One is long-sinee dead and buried. The other sits in this courtroom. You have to decide based on the evidence what occurred.”In their summations today, Duncan and Meggesto disagreed sharply about what the evidence showed.The defense attorney said it was clear the knife used belonged to McLaughlin, that Patnode was just trying to get his hand out of the victim's mouth when he stabbed him. Patnode testified last week that McLaughlin began biting his fingers after the victim’s sexual identity was discovered.But Duncan today suggested the knife belonged to Patnode, and the prosecutor ridiculed the defendant's contention that he couldn’t get his finger out of McLaughlin’s mouth. The prosecutor pointed out that Patnode is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, outweighed the victim by 100 pounds and lettered in football and wrestling in high school.“If he wanted to get his finger out, he’dmurderingget it out,” Duncan said. “He could have ripped this fellow’s head off.”Duncan also wondered aloud why it took three stab wounds, including two deep into the victim’s throat, for Patnode to get his hand free.He is mad and he’s angry, and he takes his anger out on him by stabbing him three times and killing him,” the prosecutor said.“He took the knife and he drove it in his back, and he took the knife and he stuck it in his throat two times,” Duncan continued, arguing that clearly showed Patnode intended to kill the victim. “Whatever intent could he have?”Duncan also said the defendant’s story about McLaughlin shouting out for help only after he was stabbed did not make sense. Two prostitutes, Rosemary Scott and Melissa Cox, both testified last week they heard McLaughlin screaming for help.Duncan today asked the jury howprostituteMcLaughlin could have shouted aloud if he still had his teeth dug into Patnode’s hand.If the shout occurred after the stabbing, Duncan said that made no sense either.How in God’s name could David McLaughlin yell to Rosemary Scott and Melissa Cox more than a block away and have them hear him with this knife through his voice box?” he asked.In his closing argument, Meggesto focused his attention harshly on the lifestyle of the victim, a homosexual transvestite who was working as a prostitute,“How this 22-year-old man ended up on the streets in this deplorable situation I don’t know,” Meggestosaid.“This is a question of respect and dignity.” he told the jury. “Where David McLaughlin lost his respect, his self-respect, his dignity I don’t know. If he wished to dress' up as a woman. I don’t think anyone cared. As long as it didn’t hurt anyone.”
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Herald Journal
Syracuse, New York, US
Mon, Jul 27, 1987
Page 53
Full Page
Clipped by
Chad G.
USA 01 May 2023
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