By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO- Aaron Patterson walked out of prison 2 1/2 years ago, a free man with a pardon from death row and a chance to start fresh. But now the 40-year-old faces drug and weapons charges that could land him in prison again.
His story of torture by police and 17 years on death row had helped launch an emotional campaign against the death penalty in Illinois. Patterson now sits in a federal jail awaiting the start of jury selection Tuesday in his trial.
Patterson was among four former death row inmates who were pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan in one of his last acts in office in January 2003. A day later the governor commuted the sentences of all 160 other death row inmates to life without parole.
Patterson insisted that he was tortured by police into confessing to a double murder he did not commit. The head of the unit that investigated his case, Lt. Jon Burge, was later fired for allegedly mistreating a suspect.
Ryan’s actions were warmly applauded by opponents of the death penalty, who nominated the former governor for the Nobel Peace Prize. Patterson’s claims have been echoed by dozens of others.
But the cheering for both Patterson and Ryan has long since faded.
The former governor is facing a racketeering indictment, and federal prosecutors are asking the judge _ who by coincidence is U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, who also is handling Patterson’s case _ to bar his lawyers from using his moratorium on capital punishment to try to impress the jury.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors say Patterson emerged from prison to become a leader of the South Side’s P. Stones street gang.
A 13-count indictment charges him with brokering heroin sales to a federal informant and selling bags of marijuana out of his home. It also charges him with buying four guns, including a MAC-10 machine pistol.
Another alleged gang member, Mark Mannie, is also charged in some of the counts.
Patterson and his defense attorneys contend he was the victim of a setup after he dedicated his life to rooting out corruption in government and the police force. As for the gun charges, Patterson says that he never meant to buy real guns but wanted the kind of replicas that some people collect.