The old adage that justice delayed is still justice served was evidenced Wednesday when a 38-year-old man admitted guilt for 18 crimes which occurred in 2020.
Stemming from a head-on wreck on a Viola backroad, Samuel Goode Patton pleaded guilty to 18 criminal counts. The wreck, which happened over three years ago, injured six people, four of them airlifted for injuries, and two of them juveniles.
Patton pleaded guilty to four counts each of vehicular and aggravated-reckless assault. He also admitted guilt to reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, first offense DUI, simple possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of Schedule VI drug for resale (marijuana).
He also admitted guilt to possession of drug paraphernalia, a gun silencer and a handgun while under the influence.
In August of 2020, Patton and Ashlee Rybak, while traveling in a 2002 Jeep Cherokee, crashed head-on with Vanessa Trapp of McMinnville, who was traveling west on White Hall Road with her three children in a 2019 Chevy Malibu.
As a result of their injuries, Trapp was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Her then-19-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son were also airlifted. The three-year-old was transported by private vehicle to Ascension Saint Thomas River Park Hospital and was later taken to Erlanger by Warren County EMS. Patton was also airlifted.
According to State Trooper Richard Teachout, the wreck happened around 5:35 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2020. Items found in the wreckage of Patton’s vehicle included a prescription bottle in Patton’s name and several opened and unopened containers of alcohol.
Trooper Teachout also found in the vehicle a backpack containing a ziplock vacuum sealer, several plastic baggies, two sets of scales, and 2.25 grams of methamphetamine. Found inside some of the plastic bags was marijuana, one bag labeled “Mr. Jack” and another “Lemon Kush Tangie” weighing about half a pound.
Other contents found in the vehicle were $1,970 in cash, a handgun in a black case, seven other guns, a silencer and a bulk supply of ammo. A Glock 26 9 mm handgun, which contained one round in the chamber and 10 rounds in the magazine, was also found on Patton’s person.
Following Patton's guilty plea, he faces a Jan. 2024 sentencing date.
