A former member of College Station’s Sigma Nu fraternity is ordered to serve 90 days in a state jail.
That’s after 23 year old Samuel Patterson of Nacogdoches admitted to possessing LSD and Ecstasy.
Patterson is the first of six former members to be in court on felony drug charges, following the August 2016 death of fellow member Anton Gridnev from an accidental drug overdose.
Brazos County district judge Steve Smith on Friday told Patterson to start serving his time July 8. After that, Patterson’s lawyer says the punishment will be appealed.
Patterson sought probation with no jail time, in part so he could receive licenses to sell securities and own a firearm.
The district attorney’s office sought 180 days in a state jail, which is the maximum allowed as part of probation.
The judge pointed out inconsistencies in Patterson’s testimony during the punishment hearing.
And the judge said he was most persuaded by Patterson’s decision when he found Gridnev to not call 9-1-1 immediately. Instead, the judge brought up Patterson talking on the phone for 30 minutes to among others, his sister…who wound up calling 9-1-1…and a local hospital to inquire about the costs of treating Gridnev.
The punishment hearing also brought up Patterson making disparaging statements to law enforcement officers during two prior incidents.
In November 2013, when Patterson was a freshman at LSU, he was arrested for DWI in Baton Rouge. Patterson was convicted, but it was later expunged and removed from his record.
And in January 2016, eight months before the Sigma Nu incident, Patterson was arrested in Nacogdoches County for evading and resisting arrest. Those charges remain pending.
Another condition of Patterson’s probation is that he write a letter to Gridnev’s family, apologizing for what he did and did not do. The judge told Patterson not to write the letter until after a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gridnev’s family has concluded. The letter will go to the judge for his approval before it is sent to the family.
The judge granted the prosecution’s motion that Patterson pay a $5,000 dollar fine. According to online court records, Patterson made a $100 dollar payment after the hearing and set up a payment plan that covers the next 56 months.
Criminal trials are pending for six other former members of College Station’s Sigma Nu house. Five are charged with felonies and one is charged with a misdemeanor.
An eighth and ninth member were found guilty after pleading no contest to misdemeanors.
And the tenth former member no longer faces criminal charges. That’s because the legislature changed the law regarding illegal possession of amphetamine.
