Former Illinois Death Row Inmate Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison
Aaron Patterson Convicted on Federal Gun and Drug Charges

(WGN-AM) - A federal judge has sentenced former Illinois death row inmate Aaron Patterson to 30 years in prison for trading in guns and drugs.


Aaron Patterson (Chicago Tribune image)

Patterson, who prosecutors claimed coordinated gang activities even as he served 17 years in prison for a double murder he insists he didn't commit, made a 45-minute expletive-laden statement to the court before his sentence was read.
During Patterson's trial, prosecutors used witnesses and secretly made recordings to convince jurors he had arranged several heroin sales to a government witness, sold marijuana and illegally bought four guns, including a machine pistol.

Patterson claimed he had sought to buy replicas, not real guns. His attorneys told jurors he was investigating wrongdoing by law enforcement officials and ended up being set up by the very officials he had been investigating.

Patterson spent 17 years in state prison, 13 of them on death row, proclaiming his innocence and claiming he was framed by Chicago homicide detectives who tortured him.

In January 2003, then-Governor George Ryan pardoned him, saying there was no credible evidence against him.

After his release, Patterson gained international fame and pledged to spend his life exposing police misconduct and corruption. He filed a lawsuit against Chicago and Cook County officials for their roles in sending him to death row and refused a $4 million settlement offer from the city.