Wife accuses ex-judge of threatening her

By CURTIS KRUEGER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 17, 2001

Retired Judge David F. Patterson allegedly threatened his wife in July.

David F. Patterson, former chief judge of Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal, has made violent threats against his wife while drinking heavily and threatened suicide, his wife alleged in a domestic violence petition filed this week.

Some of the allegations cover the time that Patterson was on the bench as chief of the 14-judge appellate court. He retired last month.

A temporary injunction barring Patterson from seeing his wife at their Treasure Island home was imposed this week in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court. That does not mean the allegations have been proven, just that the court considers them legally sufficient to keep him away from his wife until a more complete hearing is held next week.

Patterson's wife, Johnna Patterson, said in her petition that Patterson had:

• Threatened on July 2 to have a limousine driver "take you down the street two blocks from here and kill you," after he had been "drinking heavily for four days."
• Had a gun on a coffee table in July 1999 and was "threatening to commit suicide."
• Told his wife this past Sunday -- and during the past four years -- that if she filed for divorce, "I will destroy you."

Mrs. Patterson said in her petition that she told her husband Sunday that she intended to file for divorce. That day he allegedly pulled her hair while struggling over a hidden bottle of rum she had discovered, according to the petition.

The next day, he called her on her cell phone saying "I am going to do something exceptionally violent," the petition says.

A Treasure Island police officer responded to the house after Mrs. Patterson and a family friend said Patterson was "intoxicated and unable to take care of himself," according to a police report. The report says "it was obvious that D. Patterson has been drinking and was impaired."

Court documents indicate Patterson, a former chief judge of the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit, was taken to the psychiatric department of St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

"We understand that he's experienced some difficulties," said Steve Dupre of Carlton Fields, the law firm where Patterson had gone to work after retiring from the bench. "We really don't have the facts and can't really comment. We of course have a high regard for Judge Patterson."

He was ordered in the injunction to turn over all firearms to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. His wife's petition says he owns a .357 Magnum pistol and three other handguns, which had been confiscated by a friend.

Patterson, 62, wrote a June 6 letter to Gov. Jeb Bush saying that since he was about to complete his two-year term as chief judge, he planned to retire effective July 10 and go to work for Carlton Fields. He wrote that "as a practicing lawyer, I will continue to strive for the betterment of our judicial system."

Patterson's legal career has been a distinguished one.

A graduate of the University of Florida and Stetson University College of Law, Patterson was elected in 1968 to the position of justice of the peace. He was elected without opposition as a judge in the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit in 1972 and served three terms as chief judge.

Former Gov. Bob Martinez appointed Patterson to the appeals court in 1989. The court, based in Lakeland, hears appeals from 14 counties, including Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco.

The author of several legal publications, Patterson also had been an adjunct professor of law at Stetson. As a circuit judge he helped organized a citizens' mediation process.

Velma Johnson, acting marshal for the District Court of Appeal, said a judicial nominating committee appointed by the governor would select Patterson's replacement.

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