Two a penny

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‘Depressed’ accused fails to sway judge

– Sunday, 01 February 2009

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FLOOD OF TEARS: Alex Verne Patten, 44, has to face trial despite his lawyer’s plea that his emotional state made a court case difficult.

The lawyer for a "depressed" man facing serious drugs charges tried to have his trial aborted when he claimed his client was so unwell he broke down every time he tried to talk to him about the case.
Barrister Chris Comeskey dramatically illustrated his argument at the Auckland High Court on Friday by pointing at Alex Verne Patten, 44.
"This is as good as it gets.
He was crying and had his head bowed in court.
"I have never encountered anything like this before," Comeskey said of the emotional state of his client, who is charged with supplying methamphetamine and manufacturing the class-A drug. I'm not going to run a trial like that," Comeskey said.
He said being Patten's lawyer "was tantamount to representing someone who is asleep" and there was no way he could give evidence if he exercised his right to do so.
But Justice Hugh Williams said the trial, to start later this month, would go ahead.
A psychiatric report presented to the court confirmed Patten had a mental illness. It won't be an easy trial for anyone," the judge said.
"There will be trial problems that may need to be accommodated."
His decision prompted Comeskey to say he wanted to withdraw as Patten's lawyer. "I have considered all the issues and in my view the level of unfitness is not made out.
The judge told him the court would not allow that to happen.
The judge told him the court would not allow that to happen.
Comeskey agreed, but said he wanted a further psychiatric assessment before the trial began. He needs your expertise," Justice Williams said. . He said he would be seeking the assessment from a specialist the Crown agreed to.
Patten was charged with the two drugs counts, both of which carried maximum terms of life imprisonment.
Patten was arrested in 2005 as part of the four-month, multi-million-dollar Operation Leningrad, which included the arrest of several Highway 61 gang members and associates for alleged drug dealing.
Following the hung jury, in February, 2007, a second trial was scheduled for late last year but was aborted after Patten had a depressive episode.
But jurors in the 20-week trial could not reach verdicts on Patten's charges.