Kelsey Patterson

Kelsey Patterson (September 3, 1954 – May 18, 2004) was executed by the State of Texas. He was convicted of the murder of Louis Oates, 63, and Dorothy Harris, 41.

On August 25, 1992, Oates was standing on the loading dock of his Oates Oil Co. in Palestine, Texas. Patterson walked up behind Oates and shot him in the back of the head with a .38-caliber pistol. He left, but returned shortly later and shot Harris who had come outside screaming upon hearing the shots and finding Oates. Patterson then went to a friend's house where he took off his clothing and was arrested standing naked in the street. No clear motive was established for the murders, but a friend of Oates told police that Patterson and the victim had once argued over who was the better football player, Patterson or Oates' son.

Patterson received a rare recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles that his death sentence be commuted to life on May 17, 2004 because of mental illness. Nonetheless, Governor Rick Perry refused to grant the commutation. Governor Perry explained why he refused to commute Patterson's sentence to life, "This defendant is a very violent individual. Texas has no life without parole sentencing option, and no one can guarantee this defendant would never be freed to commit other crimes were his sentence commuted. In the interests of justice and public safety, I am denying the defendant's request for clemency and a stay."

Prior to Patterson's execution, Texas had only two sentencing options for capital crimes: life with parole (with a minimum prison time of 40 years) or death by lethal injection; it did not have a life without parole option. Partially in response to the execution, in 2005, the Texas Legislature changed the capital murder sentencing law, which Governor Perry signed into law. Under the new law, the life with parole option was replaced with life without parole. (However, for any unsolved cases prior to the change in law, in the event of a conviction the life with parole option still applies.)

Patterson was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.

General references
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