PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The team defending a teenager previously convicted of trying to kill a Portsmouth police officer will ask for a change of venue for the new trial.
At a motion hearing on Thursday, Will Patterson Jr.’s lawyers told the judge they would be petitioning for a change of venue, and the judge agreed to hear their motion early next week.
Thursday’s motion hearing also included a petition from the prosecutors for a continuance, which was denied.
Patterson’s defense team also asked to exclude evidence that they said they were only made aware of this week. According to Patterson’s lawyers, the new evidence includes more than 800 video clips as well hundreds of pages of discovery.
The judge said this case has been going on since 2017 — and it was time to move forward.
Patterson is accused of shooting Officer Angelina Baaklini multiple times in November 2017 when she tried to take him into custody as a 15-year-old runaway. She was seriously injured, and her surgeon said she even came minutes from dying, but recovered.
Patterson pleaded not guilty to all charges he faced, including attempted capital murder and aggravated malicious wounding, but was ultimately convicted on all charges by a jury.
In 2020, the verdict was overturned when a judge agreed with the defense that Patterson was incompetent through all stages of the trial — and that his right to due process and his right to effective assistance of counsel were violated.
Currently, Patterson’s new trial is scheduled to start on April 18.
