Patterson, Marva Oral History Interview
Collection: Righting the Record Oral History Project | Tags: accept a plea, beating, Carl Stokes Brigade, Grand Jury, intimidation, Jail time, Joaquin Hicks, lying, Marva Patterson, Marysville, Office of Professional Standards, oral history, racial slurs, Rebecca Whitby, Robert Starks III, torture, unjust felony conviction, wrongful identity
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Patterson:
This is Marva Patterson. I am a member of the Carl Stokes Brigade, and as a member of an organization, we oftentimes have individuals come to us for assistance. We are dealing with police brutality cases in referencing two particular cases, Robert Starks the Third, Rebecca Whitby mother, Rebecca Whitby daughter.
In the Robert Starks the Third case, Robert Starks the Third was picked up off the street by a detective stating that he was responsible for the kidnapping, rape of a minor, that happened 10 years prior. Robert Starks the Third was not the perpetrator of this crime. In reality, there was a gentleman that the victim had already accused who just so happened to have the same name, Robert Starks.
What had occurred was that Robert Starks the Third was just picked up on name recognition. Robert Starks the Third was a black man, Robert Starks was a Caucasian man as described in the complaint that was filed by the victim. Once was Robert Starks the Third was picked up, Robert Starks was processed through the system. He was found guilty. He was placed in jail for 30 days, and in that 30-day period, Robert Starks was told that he had to plead. Robert Starks refused to plead. Robert Starks stated that “I was not guilty, I did not do this crime.” Even though the grand jury found that he was guilty and there was probable cause. The community became outraged by the fact that a citizen can have evidence that will not prove that they were guilty of a crime but yet still, they’re still found guilty through the grand jury process. Once this came to the attention of those of us in the city as activists and organizers, we began to process his information, and we found that Robert Starks, based on the reports, was not the same Robert Starks that was reported on by the victim. Robert Starks then was able to obtain an attorney through the evidence and through his fiancée. Robert Starks was then released. But it took 30 days, and in that 30 days, he lost his job.
Drake: Wow.
Patterson: There was never any apology, from what I understand as a community, um, Christian community activist, and a member of the Carl Stokes Brigade. So this is a problem. If a grand jury can process you through knowing fully well that this person is not guilty, then we have a serious problem.
Drake: One question. Can you, do you have any insight into how the wrongfully jailed individual was treated in interactions with police? Like, how did they engage him? I don’t know if he said anything to you or to other members of the group about what his experience was like going through it.
Patterson: Well, he did attend one of our meetings we had, and he was explaining how frustrating it was for him and what it had cost him. It was very stressful, and to know he lost his job throughout this process, and you can’t get something back, because once you’ve been charged it gives your employer the illusion that you’re guilty of something. So these are things I believe we need to look into, we need to truly make sure those who are guilty are [background noise] processed properly as well as those who are innocent. We can’t continue, in my opinion, to allow the innocent to be charged. Yes, he went through a lot.
Drake: Yeah, wow.
Patterson: Very stressful.
Drake: That was very powerful. You mentioned there was a second story?
Patterson: Yes, there’s a second story. This story deals with police officers who were called to a home of a college student, 23 year old college student, by the name of Rebecca Whitby. Rebecca Whitby had nothing prior. The family’s, in all the reports you can see, they’re a non-violent family. This is, and was, not a domestic issue. Rebecca Whitby was enjoying the night out with a friend of hers, a dinner date. They had a little bit too much to drink that night. She returned home from the dinner date, because she was, um, she was having a good time. I’m not a drinker. She was having a good time because it was the end of school and finals was coming, so she was celebrating.
Drake: Right.
Patterson: When she returned home, her mom and dad could smell the alcohol. The only thing she had was tequila, and she stated that as “my drink of choice.” She’s an adult. Once Rebecca and her parents had smelled the alcohol, they determined that they did not want that scent - her nephew was there, that was two years old, to smell the alcohol - so they requested for her not to play with him that night, just go lay down, because this is a Christian household, there’s no alcohol in the household. So Rebecca, being a young person, couldn’t quite understand, because there was nothing wrong. She was doing nothing wrong. But when she realized the impression it would make possibly on her two-year-old nephew, she relinquished and said, okay. She said okay. So her parents - then she wanted to leave. Now her parents are very concerned because they didn’t know if she was going to drive or just walk - it’s 10:30 at night. Rebecca then at that point was embarrassed, just very embarrassed, so she was packing her overnight bag. She had her overnight bag on, she had gone to the restroom to get her toothbrush. So her mother followed her into the restroom, so they’re in the restroom talking. At that time, the father is very afraid because he figures that if she gets into her car, she could have an accident or someone could get hurt. And he himself was struck by a drunk driver and severely injured years prior, so he had great concern. And the fact that she’s an adult, he can’t put his hands on her or force her to stay. So while in the bathroom, the mom and daughter are talking. She’s crying and she’s feeling terrible, and so she wants to leave, and the mom’s asking her not to leave. The father didn’t know quite what was happening so the father called 911 and asks for a mediator and asks just to have an officer talk to the daughter and to teach her and tell her, you know -
Drake: Right.
Patterson: - that it’s not proper to drive. So he called, asked for a mediator, the dispatch said they would send someone out. At that time, he had the grandson, so he’s waiting for the officers. He didn’t know at that time that the daughter had said she would stay, she wouldn’t leave. To move forward, the officers came to the house, they knocked on the door. The father answered the door, he said, you know, things are okay, there’s no nothing really really wrong. And the officers just asked, well, where’s Rebecca? He said upstairs, in the bathroom with her mother. Officers just whirled through, past him, up the stairs, knocked on the door. He’s walking behind them and he said, fellas, fellas, fellas. They knock on the bathroom door, the mother answered the door. When she opens, she saw there were police officers out there so she was very, you know, why are you in my house? They said they wanted Rebecca, and she said - the mother said, everything is okay. So she closed the door. They knocked a second time. Now at that point, she opened it, they said we’re going to arrest Rebecca.
Drake: Wow.
Patterson: And she’s asking why, the mother’s asking why. Well at that time, because Rebecca was crying, you know, her eyes are red, and she has asthma so, you know, her asthma’s acting up, she can hardly breathe. The - then Rebecca stepped out of the bathroom door with her mom, they stepped into a very small area, maybe 6 feet by 8 feet, it’s a small hallway. At that point, they’re asking other questions, an officer’s writing in his little book. The mother stated that the officer put his book away, looked at the other officer, next thing you know he just did an arm - what they call an arm barred. He used his forearm and smashed it against Rebecca’s face and into the wall and blood just starts spurting out. They fell into the - the other officer also rushed, so both officers fell into the doorway, into her sewing room, on top of her. Just, everything she just had eaten came out, it was vomit all over the officers. All over the one officer. At that point, they’re just beating her, punching her in the face, punching her in the sides. She’s - she can barely breathe, she’s crying and hollering. The two-year-old is screaming, he’s terrified. The grandmother’s screaming. They’re all afraid. So then the officer reached on the door knob, because there are two brassieres that was hanging on the door. He reached to take them off and put them on Rebecca’s face, and then when he reared back, the mother said she just couldn’t take it. So she put her body on her daughter, to shield her and asked them, begged them to stop. And they threatened her. So she said, what can I do? I have to back down. She did, so they eventually handcuffed Rebecca - handcuffed her, then carried her down the stairs, the two officers. And the father stayed and when he got to the bottom base of the stairs, he could look out on the porch and see that there were many officers on their porch. They used Rebecca’s head to ram open the screen door and then threw her onto the porch, and as her father said like a sack of potatoes, on to the porch. She fell. The officers that were out there began to kick Rebecca, repeatedly. Rebecca said, I couldn’t breathe, I just kept praying and praying. She said, I just prayed, Lord help me, help me. I wanted to survive to help. Because her asthma, she’s had asthma since she was a baby - severe asthma, asthmatic.
So once they finished kicking her - there was one officer that blocked the doorway that the father and mother couldn’t come out. And the mother was still in her nightgown with no shoes. They carried her at that point, four officers carried Rebecca, out to the cruiser, threw her in the cruiser. And her legs was hanging out. So from the, um, from the witnesses that was looking out their windows saw what was going on. One, they had stated that they saw one of the officers tase her. So she began to shake. And finally, he was hitting her - the door was hitting - continued to ram the door on her legs, finally pushed her in. So, because of what the taser will do to you, she’s shaking and thrashing about, and spitting out the blood, because there’s a whole lot of blood and foam because she, she, as I said before, she’s asthmatic.
And, at that point, the officer then came to the mother that was standing there, and the father, and was asking questions. The mother and the father asked, please take her to the emergency room, because she was bleeding profusely. Um. The officer said, she’s a nig- he used the N word - oh, she’ll be all right. She’s just a … Uh. Then the officer stated, well, we’re going to arrest you - he’s talking to the mother - for obstruction of justice. Obstructing justice. And the mother and father said, why, she didn’t do anything wrong. Well, we’re arresting you, he said, I’m putting these handcuffs on you, that’s what the officer said. Ah, you will be handcuffed. So the mother, because she’s claustrophobic, she asks if he can put the handcuffs in front of her. He said no. So he handcuffed the mother, put her in the cruiser with the daughter. And the mother stated once in the cruiser, she couldn’t understand why the daughter was kicking. She said, I kept asking her, why are you doing this? The daughter said, I don’t know, oh Mommy, I don’t know. She couldn’t stop. The mother had stated it was very hard to get into the cruiser because it was a short area and very small, so she was crammed in. And at that point, the officers began - all the officers that were there, it was roughly 12, 12 officers there on the scene - 10 according to the father on ithe porch that was kicking Rebecca. The other officers began to shine the light in the car, calling her another negro [word on that S?]. And at that point, the neighbors were coming, coming out of the house, and they were telling them to go back in. Rebecca didn’t know what was going on and the father was talking at that time to the police outside the cruiser, begging them to allow him to get clothes for the mother. So the father said, the officer said sure, go into the house and get some clothing. And he did, he went in with his grandson to get clothing, shoes, and pants, and a shirt. And when he came back out, that’s when the officer said, well, that’s okay, we’ll let her go. So he took the mother out the cruiser and took the handcuffs off. And they’re still begging the police to take her to the emergency room, to take her to the hospital. And at that point, there was a female officer that said, you know what, take her out, take her around the corner, I’ll kick her teeth in.
So it was a horrible, horrible night for this family. A lot of abuse that continued. I’ll try again to be as brief as possible.
Drake: That’s alright [unintelligible] concern.
Patterson: Well, the officers stayed around for a while, doing whatever they did, taking only a report from the mother and the father. They did not take any reports from the witnesses at the scene that night. They finally left the scene, supposedly took Rebecca down to the justice center. Well, the mother and father kept calling the justice center and the hospitals, nearly two hours, couldn’t find their daughter. It wasn’t until the next day that they discovered that their daughter was back in jail, and that happened because of one of the detectives who came to their house. At that time, Rebecca told her story of what happened to her. Once they had gotten her to the justice center, they dragged her out of the cruiser. Her head hit the door of the cruiser and started a gash in her forehead, and blood was pouring out. And she, she was stumbling and the officer - food came out of her overnight bag onto the floor, to the ground, and the officer told her, pick up your dog food.
Drake: Wow.
Patterson: And so of course Rebecca, she’s a strong young girl. She told her, you pick it up. You eat it. And at that time, they - all the officers, she said there was five or six officers - they took her into the justice center, paraded her through, but before they got to the inside the elevator, outside the elevator, one of the female officers smashed her head repeatedly against an elevator door. Finally the elevator door opened, they entered, and then Rebecca said again, the same officer began to hit her head against an elevator door while she was inside. Then they paraded her through, took her directly to a cell, there was no booking photos taken, nothing done throughout booking that the law states booking must be done first. They took her to a jail cell where there was another female that was in the cell. That female, uh, was sitting there. Rebecca said, well, she said she was cold. Rebecca gave her her blanket and proceeded to the fountain, which Rebecca said the fountain was attached to the toilet. That’s really unsanitary, she thought.
Drake: Yeah.
Patterson: She was getting water and, she said, when she turned, a little water came out of the cup and spilled on the woman. Then she was irate, got up, wanted to fight Rebecca, and Rebecca said, I’m, she was shaking, everything, tremors all over her body. So she’s holding the woman off, and they’re just kinda in this tight embrace, there is, was, no punches thrown. She said in 10 seconds, 15 seconds, the officers are coming into the cell, grabbing her, taking her to another cell, stripped her down naked, put her on the jumpsuit stating she was suicidal. Then they took her to Charity Hospital, after that. Once at to Charity Hospital, the officers told a different story. They stated it was domestic, and that she hit her own head on the jail cell, um, and, she was schizophrenic and bipolar. So while Rebecca was telling them that the officers beat her up, the officers was telling a different story. At the time, they told the nurse to give her something, because Rebecca was very adamant what was going on, very scared, and Rebecca had jumped off the cart because she wanted to go home. She told them I want to go home and I want to call my mommy. They refused her phone call, they did, they, at that point, they meaning the hospital staff, the nurse, gave her a shot called geodon, it’s all in the reports.
Drake: Wow.
Patterson: They then tied her down in a bed in a four-way restraint. So now she’s restrained , with the drug in her system, which anyone in the nursing field understands - you can’t do both.
Drake: Yeah.
Patterson: And you must have a doctor’s order to give any type of [psychiatric?] drug. Plus that person had to have been diagnosed with some kind of mental disorder, which none of those things had occurred in Rebecca Whitby’s case. She was neither schizophrenic nor was she bipolar. So they gave her the drug, assessed her, she was there all night. And eventually she went back to jail, and that’s when the detective had, um, interviewed her and she explained what had happened. The detective then took her to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then took it to the grand jury. She was found not guilty. Well, there was a no-bill issue for [her?]. Come to find out much later, when they filed their complaint with the Office of Professional Standards, and - should I give the date?
Drake: Yeah, that’s fine.
Patterson: On May 6, they filed with the -
Drake: Of this year?
Patterson: No, 2009. They filed with the Office of Professional Standards, um, on May 6, 2009. Incident happened April 25, 2009.
Drake: Okay.
Patterson: And, after they filed, come to find out there was a warrant issued for Rebecca’s arrest after she filed. I’m sorry, May 5 - come May 6, it’s when a warrant was issued for her arrest. Uh, Rebecca didn’t know anything about the warrant and neither did her parents, and we were trying to figure out why there was a warrant issued for arrest. And the only way everyone knew was Rebecca was picked up. She was driving in East Cleveland and officers were doing just a routine plate check, and found that she had a warrant stating she was armed and dangerous. So when the officer pulled her over, he checked her, he found - he figured something was wrong here because she’s a youngster weighing 125 pounds. What could she have done? And he deduced that something was just not right with this warrant. So he allowed her parents - he allowed her to call her parents and she did. They came to the scene, so he allowed the parents to take the car. He said, I won’t have it towed, you just take it in. But I have to arrest you because it’s in the system now. So the officer took her to East Cleveland jail, where she was awaiting Cleveland’s police to pick her up. At that point, they took her in. That next morning, she said, they picked her up and took her downtown, processed her through the justice center but the officer did state, if it was any other officer she most likely would have been shot. And the family found out that her picture was posted up as the most wanted. So throughout this entire process, it took between 2009 to 2011 before it went to court. But again, there were nothing - no probably cause here, no reason. They charged her with nine counts, including child endangerment. They charged her with stealing their guns, strong-arm robbery, and stated that she was on a drug called “wet,” which, neither of those things were true. Finally, we’re fighting as a community organization to get notice, you know, if you know what was going on to come and support. Rebecca had a lot of support. She had, uh, support in other countries. There are a lot of individuals who realize this was an injustice. But regardless of all that, in the system here in Cuyahoga County, they are going to make sure you are prosecuted. 2011, trial. We’re all at trial. Rebecca testified, all of her witnesses testified, and the majority of her witnesses all were Caucasian. There was only one African American, and they all had the same story. They saw the officers kicking her on the porch, they heard the racial slurs, but the judge admonished them not to talk about the racial slurs.
I’ll jump through the trial. After all the witnesses, Rebecca and her mother, and the police officers themselves, and the fact that the detective on the case was Rebecca Whitby’s witness, and the detective found the officers were not truthful. And then at that point, as I said going through the trial, the jury came back with their decision. Well, prior to that, the jury had requested her medical records and all records, the judge denied it. They still determined Rebecca was not guilty. We were sitting there - not guilty of stealing the guns, not guilty of assault on a P.O., because there was another P.O. who said she assaulted her in jail, so Rebecca was found not guilty of any of that. Rebecca was found not guilty of all charges and so was her mother. And we knew that sitting there, watching the jury, but once the decision was made, the judge requested the, the, um, jury’s decision. The judge had in his hands their decision. We as the audience sitting there had to sit for about 10 minutes while he was shuffling the papers. He, the judge, at that time, came back and said not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, oh, yes, guilty. Guilty, yes, spit, yes, misdemeanor, no, felony. Now this is what the judge stated. And we were very curious. Juror Number 1 was sitting with his head down between his legs. A couple of the jury members were in tears. So we were stunned. There was no evidence to prove Rebecca was guilty of anything nor was her mother. We also noticed that the shirt in question, the officer stated it was - she spit on them. We noticed throughout the trial that the shirt that the prosecution had was not the shirt for this officer. The shirt was three times his size, that the officer wore. It was definitely not his shirt. So at that point, once the jury decided, made their decision, the judge stated what the jury had made, the judge said at that point, no, the mother, that she was guilty, that she was guilty of obstruction of justice. The mother was sentenced, um, I think it was 60 days. 60 days and what ended up happening, she was put on probation and given - well, had to work through the system. And the daughter was given 60 days, I believe, 60 days in jail, but she had already served only 45, I believe, in total 45 between the county and Marysville. A lot of the activists and community members continued to call and rally on Rebecca’s behalf, so she was released from Marysville early.
Once out, she still had this felony, you know, on her, and to this day she can’t get a job because of it. And her mother lost her job - she was working for an insurance company, and she has that evidence to prove as well, that she lost her job because of this. Rebecca has, and has had, a very difficult time, not only the emotional scars because of this, but how damaging her to her abilities to earn a living. Throughout the trial she went through torture - it was very torturous. And also, for the record, they had gone through two judges who recused themselves from the case. Finally ended up with one judge.
Drake: Wow.
Patterson: The mother herself had high blood pressure so she lost consciousness twice going through this process. Down at the justice center, which they had no - appeared to have no humanity, they didn’t [communicate?], so we were down there to support them. And at this point they need to have some kind of remedy. They need these felonies gone, and they need - and I will say this, they need some kind of compensation for what they’ve dealt with. And the truth has to come out because not only do these, uh, officers falsify documents and records, they charge her a crime that never was provable. So if you say that she stole your guns while you were at her house, how did she get these guns?
Drake: Right.
Patterson: Not only do you say she stole one but she attempted to steal the other, so if you’re arresting her for that and she’s found not guilty through the grand jury and found not guilty going through trial so what did you arrest her for? That was one of the problems that we had at trial, was that they never said what she was arrested for. So if you have no reason, then why did you continue to prosecute and process individuals through the court system. So this is one of the most egregious cases, well, both, these two. We have more but I will just, just speak on these too.
Drake: Okay. Is there any, like, final thing you want to say about both of those cases or police violence in Cleveland, like, overall?
Patterson: Yes. They get away with filing fraudulent report, which the law clearly says they can’t do. We have a grand jury process that is more of a political, uh, what can I say, well. We have a grand jury that’s most likely attached to the political system here, meaning that they prosecute who they want to prosecute because they’re told to. They - if it look as if there would be some kind of lawsuit against the city, they will prosecute you through the system regardless in order, in order to ensure their solvency, I believe. I believe police officers, there are good police officers. There are. There are very good police officers. But when you have officers such as these, we need for our system to recognize this. We need a system that has boundaries. We need to ensure that the law is applied here. When that officer has violated, he should be penalized. Um. Well, there’s a lot going on here in Cleveland, and we need to wake up and really see what’s happening with these police officers. And if we don’t, this will continue. We can’t have innocent people in jail.
Drake: Right.
Patterson: We can’t have innocent people have their lives just overtaken by process, that, [car honk] um - it just, it continues, what can I say? It’s horrible. I just can’t imagine, can’t imagine being part of something like Rebecca has been a part of, and forever this has stained her life, and her mother.
Drake: Right. And you mentioned consciousness and getting the truth out there. That’s a real undercurrent and really the main motivation behind why I’m doing this, because we know that people have experienced things and their experiences have been rejected or ignored or invalidated or other kinds of things, and people like your organization are involved with representing and advocating for those people. Your stories are so important and so integral to getting us to the point where people can feel like they have a sense of safety, honestly. So many people we’ve spoken to have talked about when they see the police, that’s actually when they get fearful. They’re not really scared of anyone else doing anything, they’re scared of people with a badge. That’s, that’s terrible, absolutely terrible. So I thank you for your story. If you have other stories that you want to share, we’ll be around the rest of today or if you want to send people to us, they can show up at any of these locations or you can call me and I’ll come meet them wherever, because this is done on the terms of the people speaking. I admire the courage it takes to come and talk with us about this.
Patterson: Because what happens to, like, Rebecca and her mother with these two officers, plus they are allowed to just continue to patrol the streets. These same two officers, the mother saw on the street they lived on, plus they lost their housing. Not only were these officers allowed to just intimidate outside of the case itself. The mother was at the bus stop and here are these two officers there as well. So you know these are problems, you can’t have officers like this working in a system that’s supposed to apply constitutional law to protect its citizens. So it’s, it’s a problem here, a problem with our judges, who are not recognizing and really don’t care what the evidence says. So you know, what she went through was horrendous. Because the officer was stating that he was the one that was victimized. So until we recognize what’s really happening here, we won’t be able to clear this up. So the truth has to be told. And I will say this, you have to read, read the evidence, look at it, and force accountability, because they - believe you me, if this were happening to anybody else in their family, they would want assistance. So we need to step it up and assist each other.
Drake: Thank you for telling the truth. My pleasure to listen to it.
Patterson:
Patterson: Here in Cleveland we have also another case, Joaquin Hicks. Joaquin Hicks was accused of a crime he did not commit. He was accused of shooting a young man, well, two young people in the downtown Cleveland area. One survived, one did not. Joaquin Hicks was not in that location at the time of the shooting. Joaquin Hicks was actually at a party, both, um, that was held at his aunt’s house. And she’s an advocate, has been an advocate for him since the incident occurred. This case did go to trial. Joaquin Hicks was found guilty, sentenced to 61 years in prison. During his time in prison, those of us in the community and activists, we rallied, we submitted letters, we filed complaints, because this was an injustice. Joaquin Hicks was actually in his aunt’s house with his girlfriend at the time, in an intimate, in an intimate way. He had made a phone call from that house and throughout the trial, the family testified, but the judge didn’t recognize their testimony as being valid. Joaquin Hicks spent a large amount of time in prison. While there he was shackled, he thrown into the hole, what they call the hole -
Drake: Yep, I know about that.
Patterson: Tortured, in my opinion, throughout his stay in jail. But throughout the rallies, throughout the letter-writing, um, we were given - he was given another hearing. The appellate court did listen. The prosecutor was there, Art McKoy was there, I was there, his aunt was there, and a few other activists was present during his hearing. The problem the prosecution had was to prove Joaquin was actually present during the shooting. Their case failed because they didn’t have any proof that he was ever there. The judges during his, during the appellate hearing, asked for the pinging of the towers. Well, the prosecution didn’t have the ping. The judges admonished the prosecution to get that ping off the towers to point exactly where Mr. Hicks was. Finally, the evidence came out that Mr. Hicks was indeed at his aunt’s house during the time of the shooting. So he was eventually, he was released. But what they wanted was some kind of admission of guilt. There were four of us that had gone down to the, to the justice center when Mr. Hicks was brought to the justice center. There were four of us that were listening to his cries in the back because they were trying to get him to say he was guilty for something. They couldn’t just release him freely. I will never forget those cries. That’s why I do what I do. I cannot believe that people are suffering in such a way. This is the 21st century, these things should not be going on.
Drake: Yeah.
Patterson: But they were trying to get him to plea. He was standing strong, he wasn’t going to plea. But what was on the table was “we will not release you unless you plea.” He was so afraid, so what he did plea to was a drug charge. But he was never there. How could anything like that hold up, in any court of law? If he wasn’t there, there couldn’t be any drug charge. But he did, and so what ended up happening - they gave him probation, released him, um, there was an interview by I think Channel 19 News, I’m not sure, but we were there - yeah, it was Channel 19 News. We were there during the interview phases and Mr. Hicks did explain his position. But when you have a fear, when you are afraid of being incarcerated and thrown into jail and knowing full well you’re not guilty of a crime -
Drake: Right.
Patterson: Of course a person will say they did something just to be released.
Drake: Yeah.
Patterson: Especially under the circumstances, Mr. Hicks based on his 61 years. But again, how is it that anyone can go through this justice system when the judge, the prosecutors, and the police know you’re not guilty of a crime - and the grand jury - but yet here in Cleveland you’re prosecuted. Because your evidence does not apply. But because of the activism that’s here and what’s being done today, I can say justice will be served. And in Mr. Hicks’ case, he had a partial justice, but he was not able to sue the city in order to be compensated. So that’s an issue, that’s why they continue to ensure that you have a felony. You know. We need to take a look deeply at all these cases, and there should be remedy for Mr. Hicks. There should be compensation. Because he was wrongly convicted. So that is, again, that is one of the most egregious cases here. That you would just pick a person up off the street, because they have a prior history or anything, and charge them. If they’re innocent, they’re innocent. No one has the right to usurp someone else’s rights, to just close the case.
Drake: That’s powerful. Is there anything else you want to share about that story, or about, um -
Patterson: I would like to applaud his aunt, and his family. I would really like to thank Denise, for her courage, and that is Jao Hicks’ aunt. Very courageous. She stood her ground, because it was in her house, that is her nephew. And if we don’t start standing up, we’re going to continue to have many more of these cases, and we need the truth to come out. And I implore everyone, read the documents. Read the information, and be more aware and mindful of what’s really going on.
Drake: All right. Thank you so much.