Robert P. Patterson Jr. was a respected attorney and judge known for championing civil liberties. He worked on the Attica prison uprising case in the 1970s and advocated for an independent investigation. Throughout his career he fought for equal justice and dignity for all, regardless of race or background. Patterson had a long career as a prominent attorney in New York and later served as a federal judge, becoming known for some unconventional rulings. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 91.

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Robert P. Patterson Jr., a former government court which championed experienced civil liberties for
the charged and convicted and combated to hold guards and state cannon fodders liable for the
casualties among inmates after the Attica jail defiance in 1971, passed away on Tuesday in
Manhattan. He was 91.
The cause was several myeloma cancer, his child Anne Patterson Finn said.
The uprising at the Attica Reformatory in upstate New york city caused the fatalities of 32 inmates
and 11 adjustment officers and also civilian employees. Just about one guard and also 3 prisoners
were eliminated in what one district attorney branded a wanton "turkey shoot" by state troopers.
Afterward, Court Patterson, who was engaging in legislation at the time, portioned on a five-member
panel designated to secure the civil liberties of Attica prisoners.
In 1975, when he was a vice head of state of bench organization in New York City, he stood for
Malcolm H. Bell, a previous principal assistant prosecutor in the Attica case, that dealt in a letter to
the New York attorney general of the united states, Louis J. Lefkowitz, that Mr. Bell's former boss,
Anthony G. Simonetti, the principal district attorney, had actually perhaps hidden criminal activities
by regulation enforcement officers.
Mr. Patterson asserted to Gov. Hugh L. Carey's counsel, Judah Gribetz, that the charges would
certainly have been "fairly very easy to verify" had they been prosecuted previously. It was Mr.
Patterson's request for an independent inquiry that motivated the governor to designate an unique
state private investigator, Bernard S. Meyer, a former justice on the Court of Appeals, the state's
highest court.
"In my point of view," Mr. Patterson said at the time, "the prosecution, whether by purpose or by
poor management and also major mistakes in judgment, as sourced in the report, has permitted so
significantly time to pass as to provide useless any effort to prosecute effectively any sort of criminal
offenses by police officers against inmates.".
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Basically, the special prosecutor, Alfred J. Scotti, agreed. In February 1976, Mr. Scotti, a former
principal aide district attorney in Manhattan, recommended, "for justice," losing charges against 13
inmates and also the single state cannon fodder which had actually been prosecuted. The detainees
had been accuseded of attack or kidnapping; the trooper, with carelessly releasing a shotgun
throughout the siege.
Court Patterson, whose papa was a federal government judge, may have appeared destined for a
profession in the law, however he was defiant as a young people and was still considering some
other occupation also after university. "I didn't desire to be a lawyer when I went to regulation

2. school due to the fact that I didn't wish to follow in my dad's footprints," he informed The New York
Times in 1975.
Those footsteps were formidable. Along with being a court, Robert P. Patterson Sr. was under
secretary of battle during World Battle II and also assistant of war under President Harry S. Truman
from 1945 to 1947, when he was mainly accepted with integrating the armed pressures.
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The younger Judge Patterson altered his
mind, he later stated, when he understood
that a legal profession presented chances
for public service. As a youthful lawyer, he
worked for 2 months as a Lawful Aid
Society volunteer in the criminal courts, an
experience he accepted with motivating an
enduring commitment to equal justice, no
matter of race or class.
Robert Concierge Patterson Jr. was born in
Manhattan on July 11, 1923. His mother,
the previous Margaret Winchester,
managed Fair Oaks, the family farm in the
Hudson Valley.
After finishing from Harvard then Columbia Regulation Institution, he joined Donovan, Leisure,
Newton, Lumbard & Irvine as well as later worked as an assistant advice to the state crime
commission and as an assistant federal government prosecutor. In 1956, he signed up with
Patterson, Belknap & Webb (later on Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler), the company established
by his father.
The senior Court Patterson was gotten rid of in addition to even more compared to 30 others in 1952
in the collision of a twin-engine American Airlines Convair in a residential location of Elizabeth, N.J
. That same year, Robert Jr. wed the former Bevin Daly. She passed away in 2011. Along with his
daughter Anne, he is made it through by two various other children, Margaret and also Katherine
Patterson; a kid, Paul; as well as four grandchildren.
Among the lawyers he recruited to the team were Zachary W. Carter, a previous government
prosecutor as well as now New York City's primary attorney; a previous Usa attorney general of the
united states, Michael B. Mukasey; as well as previous Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Judge Patterson
additionally worked as president of the New york city State Bar Organization and the Lawful Help
Society in New York as well as chairman of Prisoners' Legal Solutions.
"I don't think I'm an individual who thinks that there shouldn't be any jails, period," Mr. Patterson as

3. soon as said. "But even a fierce lawbreaker is entitled to the basic components of human dignity.".
In 1988, on the suggestion of Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, a Democrat, President Reagan designated
him to the Federal Area Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Patterson, a Republican
politician, became a senior judge in 1998, but never officially retired. In 1990, Judge Patterson ruled
that the New York City Transit Authority can not call for medication testing of all its employees,
simply those with safety-related works. That exact same year, he stated unconstitutional proposed
government restrictions on access to telephone-pornography services.
Court Patterson had no agitations regarding punishing the previous president of Guatemala, Alfonso
Portillo, to prison for nearly six years in a money-laundering instance in 2013. However he was
irritated by federal tips that forced him to enforce a sentence of two years and also three months in
2003 on a South Oriental immigrant, a postal employee which had actually axed seven tries from a
handgun at the United Nations constructing to protest North Korea's treatment of its residents. The
court said the man was making a political statement instead of planning to bring upon injury.
In 1995, Court Patterson nullified a 25-cent New york city City Transportation price boost, to $1.50,
coupled with a proportionally smaller sized rise for traveler railways. He stated the increase was a
civil rights infraction considering that a lot of train and bus bikers were black or Hispanic, while
most rural rail commuters were white. He was overthrown by an appellate court.
Judge Patterson could be wacky and acerbic in the court. During a hearing in the transportation
price case, he added, "Objection suffered," as a legal representative presented a concern to a
witness-- before the opposing attorney had actually even registered a complaint.
The elder Court Patterson was killed along with even more than 30 others in 1952 in the accident of
a twin-engine American Airlines Convair in a household location of Elizabeth, N.J
. Court Patterson, a Republican politician, ended up being an elderly judge in 1998, yet never
formally retired. In 1990, Court Patterson ruled that the New York City Transportation Authority can
not call for drug screening of all its employees, just those with safety-related tasks. Judge Patterson
had no qualms regarding sentencing the previous head of state of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, to jail
for nearly 6 years in a money-laundering situation in 2013. In 1995, Judge Patterson voided a 25-
cent New York City Transit fare rise, to $1.50, coupled with a proportionally smaller boost for
commuter railroads.