FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
August 10, 2015
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
AG ANNOUNCES THAT COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
UPHOLDS TUSCALOOSA COUNTY MURDER CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced that the
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the murder conviction of
Christopher Dewayne Patton. Patton, 32, of Northport, was convicted in Tuscaloosa
County Circuit Court in August of 2014 for the murder of Kenneth McDaniel.
Evidence presented at trial showed that on the evening of July 17, 2012, Sandra
McDaniel and her husband, the victim Kenneth McDaniel, were at home and heard a
loud noise outside. Kenneth McDaniel stated, “There goes the air conditioner”; a later
investigation of the scene showed that the breaker to the air conditioning unit had been
manually switched off. After Kenneth McDaniel walked out of the back door of the
house, Sandra McDaniel looked out of the kitchen window, and saw “a man swinging a
weapon as hard as he could.” She identified the man as Patton, whom she had seen
walking on her property about eight weeks before. As police responded to the scene,
Patton was seen walking down the shoulder of the road holding a pipe in his hands.
Patton dropped the pipe and fled but was later apprehended. A DNA analysis
confirmed that the blood on the pipe belonged to Kenneth McDaniel. Kenneth
McDaniel died as a result of blunt force trauma to his head.
The case was prosecuted at trial by Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Lyn
Head’s office. Patton was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder conviction and
subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the
appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the
conviction. The Court did so in a decision issued on Friday, August 7.
Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorney General Kristi
Wilkerson of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division for her successful work
in this case.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
