Judge to look at whether killer is competent

By Matt Pordum

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

Is a 21-year-old man convicted of killing his pregnant sister and their grandparents faking a mental illness to avoid sentencing or is he indeed seriously ill?

District Judge Lee Gates will hear testimony and arguments on Aug. 22 in hopes of answering the continuing question regarding Dante Pattison's competency.

A jury convicted Pattison of using a Russian assault rifle in February 2001 to kill his sister, 32-year-old Carrie Adric-Pattison, and their grandparents, Yoshio Kato, 82, and Sally Kato, 75.

The same jury sentenced Pattison to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the three murders, but Gates must still sentence Pattison for killing Adric-Pattison's unborn child.

The jury rejected Pattison's defense at trial that he committed the killings because, in his delusional state, family members were assassins attempting to kill him. His attorneys also said Pattison believed he was on a mission from God and was receiving signals from God during the weeks leading up to the killings.

Gates was originally scheduled to sentence Pattison on May 25, but it was postponed because Pattison's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Charles Cano, said Pattison now believes "he's being recruited to play soccer for the United States national team, and he's never even played soccer before."

Cano said since then one doctor has evaluated Pattison and determined he is not competent to face sentencing, and that Pattison was slowly falling into a catatonic state.

Another doctor has also examined Pattison and determined he could not be sure if Pattison was "malingering."

Cano said the results of the two examinations make it clear Pattison should be sent to Lakes' Crossing, the state's mental facility in Sparks.

"We have two doctors with one saying he's not incompetent and the other saying he can't be sure and that he might be malingering," Cano said. "Lakes Crossing is in the best position to determine if he's malingering."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo, however, said a phone call Pattison made to his mother from the Clark County Detention Center the day before he revealed his soccer based delusions, will show clearly that Pattison is malingering.

Although DiGiacomo would not divulge the substance of the phone call, he said it would show Pattison is "nowhere near catatonic and is absolutely malingering."