Ex-judge to enter alcohol treatment center

A circuit judge has decided that David F. Patterson will spend 28 days in a Sarasota facility.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 6, 2001

David F. Patterson, a recently retired judge and longtime figure in the Pinellas County legal community, will spend 28 days in an in-patient alcohol rehabilitation center in Sarasota.

A circuit judge in Alachua County made the decision to keep Patterson, the former chief judge of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, in treatment after he was involuntarily committed to a Gainesville facility last week, said attorney and friend Larry Goldstein.

Patterson was scheduled to be transported to the Sarasota facility on Wednesday.

Patterson, 62, who last month was charged with drunken driving and accused of making violent threats against his wife, is no longer employed at Carlton Fields law firm, said David Punzak, managing partner in the St. Petersburg office. Punzak declined to elaborate.

Goldstein, who has helped Patterson with some of his recent legal problems, said the DUI arrest served as a wake-up call for Patterson, whose drinking problem became serious in the last few years he spent as a judge and lawyer.

"It gets to you after awhile," Goldstein said about life as a lawyer. "It's a stressful situation."

Eighteen months ago, Patterson acknowledged to colleagues on the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which hears appeals from 14 counties including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, that he had a drinking problem and took two months off and entered an in-patient rehabilitation program.

Treasure Island police took Patterson to the hospital last month under the Baker Act, which lets people be committed for up to 72 hours for psychiatric evaluation. He fought doctors who wanted to keep him there for a drinking problem and was released after 10 days.

Then, last week, Patterson was committed under the Marchman Act, a less frequently used state law that allows people with alcohol or drug problems to be taken to a treatment facility if they could be a danger to themselves or others.

A person being held can be released within days unless a judge grants a request -- usually by a medical institution -- to hold someone longer. Goldstein said Patterson didn't oppose getting help but that he didn't want to be kept indefinitely in Gainesville.

Patterson's problems became public in August when his wife of 11 years, Johnna, obtained a court order barring him from having any contact with her at their home. Her abuse allegations have not been proven. Mrs. Patterson filed for divorce last week, asking for the couple's Treasure Island home, two cars, alimony, insurance and attorney's fees.

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