Man Sentenced for Killing Daughter
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NEVADA CITY, Calif. — A Lincoln man who killed his daughter by shoving her into the path of a truck on Interstate 80 has drawn a 25-year prison term.
Nevada County Superior Court Judge John Darlington imposed the sentence Friday on Mitchell Patterson, 36, who once headed the Lincoln chapter of Ross Perot’s United We Stand organization.
Patterson grabbed his 10-year-old daughter, Adrianna, from his parked vehicle in the eastbound lanes of I-80 and pushed her into the path of a tractor-trailer rig in March, 1993, near Floriston, just west of the California-Nevada border. She died from the injuries.
He will have to serve two-thirds of the minimum 25-year sentence--16 years, 8 months--before being eligible for parole.
Deputy Public Defender David W. Humphreys sought probation for Patterson. He said Patterson was mentally ill.
But Assistant Dist. Atty. Ronald Wolfson said Patterson has a history of violent and abusive behavior toward his wives. He used his daughter in a murder-suicide plan but only succeeded in killing her, he added.
A jury convicted Patterson of first-degree murder this year.
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