This story was updated Friday night with the jury's verdict. Read it here.
The jury in the trial for Xavier Patterson, a Denton man charged with murder in the shooting death of the mother of his children, began deliberations Friday morning.
While Patterson is charged with murder, the jury has the option to find him guilty of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, if they find him guilty of a crime at all. Murder is causing the death of a person intentionally or knowingly.
Manslaughter is recklessly causing the death of an individual. Criminally negligent homicide is accidentally causing the death of an individual while acting in a way that unjustifiably deviates from the “standard of care” an ordinary person would exercise.
With closing arguments complete, the jury was sent to deliberate the charges just before 11 a.m. Out of their presence, state prosecutor Barrett Doran said he believes the jurors might finish deliberating in under two hours. While Patterson attorney Derek Adame said he thought the jurors would take more than two hours to deliberate.
Judge Brody Shanklin told them he expects to bring lunch in for the jurors so they can continue to deliberate.
The state opened closing arguments Friday morning, followed by a closing argument from the defense and then one more from the state, as it has the burden of proof in the case.
Doran gave the first portion of the state’s closing argument. Doran argued that even if the jurors believe everything Patterson said during the interview with detectives that was played for the court, they would have to still at least find him guilty of manslaughter.
Doran argued that Patterson’s actions leading up to Darling’s death were reckless. Patterson said he stores his gun loaded and was pacing in front of Darling and continued to hold the gun as the two argued, then eventually physically fought and was presumably pointing the gun at her as they tussled.
But to find Patterson guilty of manslaughter, Doran argued, the jury would have to ignore the rest of the evidence the state presented. For example, testimony from Darling’s friends that Patterson threatened to kill her; her son’s testimony that he found Darling holding her baby brother when his mom died; and the medical examiner's testimony that the trajectory of the bullet through Darling’s head isn’t consistent with Patterson’s account.
If the jurors only consider Patterson’s account, Doran said, the jury must find him guilty of manslaughter. But if they consider the totality of the evidence, he said, the only option that makes sense is murder.
Defense attorney Derek Adame then took the floor to reiterate that Darling’s death was an accident, and there is no evidence to prove otherwise. Murder must happen intentionally or knowingly. But “that’s not Xavier,” Adame said.
Adame pointed jurors to the fact that Darling's son, in his interview the night of the shooting rather than in his testimony, said all the children were in the living room (including the baby) when he heard the gunshot. Adame recounted that Darling’s son originally said he found Patterson on the bed over Darling, Patterson tried to perform CPR on Darling and then tried to shoot himself. Patterson went to the garage to try to hammer at the gun to unjam it, and the jurors saw the damaged gun, Adame argued.
Adame said he understood if the jurors didn’t believe he was guilty of murder but weren’t comfortable just letting him walk out. If the jurors take gun ownership seriously, Adame said he understands how they could feel Patterson should have known better; Patterson himself said he should have known better.
The medical examiner and state want the jury to believe that Darling was facing Patterson straight on when she was shot, Adame told the jury. But Patterson said he didn’t think Darling was looking at him when the gun went off, Adame argued.
Darling also wasn’t afraid of Patterson, Adame argued. When he would leave the house, Adame argued that Darling would go find him and try to confront him or slash tires. Adame argued she also never told any police officers who were called out to incidents between the two that she was scared for her life.
Adame said he understands people are angry; they’ve lost a sister, a mother and a friend. He would be angry, too, Adame said, but the jury has to put those emotions aside to bring justice to this case.
He told jurors that he knows they have a tough job, but implored them to have the courage to make the right decision and see this incident for what it really is: an accident.
State Prosecutor Michael Graves gave the last closing argument, in which he echoed many of Doran’s arguments and referred the jury to evidence that doesn’t add up with Patterson’s account.
During voir dire on Monday, Graves asked the jury questions about their experiences with domestic violence. Graves reminded the jury that he asked the room that they promise not to judge victims for their decisions to stay or leave a relationship and to report or not report.
Graves said the context of Patterson and Darling’s abusive relationship — that she allegedly had bruises on her, would scream out in pain during fights with Patterson and that he destroyed her property and threatened her life — shows there was a lack of accident in Darling’s death.
But even in a vacuum, Graves argued, Patterson’s story still does not make sense. Graves asked the jury why would Darling tussle with Patterson if she sees that he is walking past her with a loaded gun. Graves argued that an expert said the gun has an internal firing pin that prevents the gun from discharging unintentionally and that the trigger would have to be pulled all the way back for it to fire.
Graves also argued that Darling’s son, at the time 11 years old, had to do an interview four hours after the most traumatic experience of his life. He pointed out to the jury that the interviewer testified there can be disadvantages to interviewing a child immediately. She testified he was in shock.
Graves asked the jury how a now-14-year-old boy would figure out the exact missing piece of the story to make the state’s case: Darling was feeding the baby at the time of her death. Graves questioned why, if the boy’s story was fabricated, he wouldn’t just say that Patterson told him he intended to kill Darling. The pillows on the bed where Darling died are positioned in a manner that would help support her arm while feeding a baby, Graves argued.
Additionally, Patterson motioned in his interview that Darling hit the gun upward with her hands. But Graves said that doesn’t fit with autopsy findings. The bullet traveled in a downward and backward motion from the top right of her scalp to the left side of her brain. Instead, Graves said, Patterson retrieved the gun from the locked safe, exited the bathroom and shot Darling from near the doorway as she sat on the bed. That would be consistent with the estimated firing range and trajectory of the bullet, Graves argued.
Graves told the jury that they can hold Patterson fully accountable for murder, partly accountable for manslaughter, barely accountable for criminally negligent homicide or not accountable at all. He said he hopes they have the courage to stand up for Darling.
