Emotion-fueled killer gets 20-year sentence
By Bob Fowler
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A man who flew into a jealous rage and stabbed his friend with a large bread knife pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, the prosecutor said.
Ricky Lynn Patterson, 44, originally charged with first-degree murder in the death of David Lowe, 50, formerly of Huntsville, Tenn., received a 20-year prison sentence.
"This is kind of an age-old, sad tale," Roane County Assistant District Attorney General Bill Reedy said. "His (Patterson's) anger and rage just got the best of him."
Patterson and Lowe lived less than 200 yards apart on rural Quarry Road, several miles outside Harriman, and the stabbing occurred June 28, 2008, Reedy said.
Patterson's friends were razzing him after his girlfriend, Pandora May, spent the night at Lowe's house, and she waved at him as she and Lowe drove by the next morning, Reedy said.
"He (Patterson) announces he intends to go there (to Lowe's house) and put some hurt on him," the prosecutor said.
Patterson stuck a serrated bread knife in his back pocket, walked to Lowe's residence and stabbed him once in the stomach, Reedy said. The wound perforated Lowe's liver, he said.
Patterson's friends saw him throw the bloody knife into a culvert, the prosecutor said.
Patterson, arrested the day of the stabbing after a brief foot pursuit by deputies, has been in the Roane County Jail since then.
Roane County Criminal Court Judge E. Eugene Eblen accepted the plea.
Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625.
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