Execution Report: Toronto Patterson

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A jury convicted Patterson of the capital murder of Ollie Smith in November 1995 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal in January 1999. Patterson's lawyers initiated some of his habeas corpus appeals while his direct appeal was still pending. All of his appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Patterson, known in prison as "Tonto," maintained his innocence in a death-row interview. He said that his confession was coerced and his request to see an attorney was denied. "I was in that room so long and didn't know which way was up. [The detective] was telling me what I did. The way he said I was going to be able to talk to someone ... was once I told him what he wanted to hear ... So, I told him, so I would be able to go to the judge and let him know how he did me in that room and stuff. But I found out later, it wasn't like that."

Patterson said that he started selling drugs because "I wanted to kind of keep up, be accepted. By just keeping up with the everyday fad, I would be accepted -- clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, whatever. I started selling drugs to keep up."

Patterson's girlfriend was pregnant at the time of his arrest. She gave birth to a daughter, who Patterson saw only once, across the glass at a visitation session.

Two days prior to Patterson's execution, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 16-1 against commuting his sentence to life in prison. The parole board also voted 17-0 against granting a stay of execution. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal by a 6-3 vote.

"I am sorry for the pain, sorry for what I caused my friends, family, and loved ones," Patterson said in his last statement. "I feel a great deal of responsibility and guilt for what happened. I should be punished for the crime, but I do not think I should die for a crime I did not commit," he said. He continued with his last statement, asking for forgiveness and expressing love to his family. Afterward, the lethal injection was started. Patterson was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 28 August 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's Office, Associated Press, Austin American-Statesman.