Patterson gets three life sentences for Cape murder; supporters argue outside courthouse

Ryan Patterson was a different man Monday.

Throughout a trial process that found him guilty of murdering Jamie Orman, her teenage son Derrick and her unborn child in October 2009, he proceeded with confidence, often posing for cameras and yelling to family members in the courtroom.

"Tell them not guilty!" he had yelled to a reporter from the back of a squad car after a Pemiscot County jury suggested he receive three life sentences without the possibility of parole last month.

At his sentencing Monday, Patterson said nothing and stared blankly while Judge William Syler took the jury's recommendation and sentenced Patterson to three life sentences, to be served consecutively, with no chance of parole.

After Patterson learned his sentence, his family and friends weren't as quiet.

Patterson and Orman supporters exchanged words outside the courthouse with officers restraining members of both parties. The screaming match wore on, and some of Derrick's Perryville High School classmates -- who had been excused from school to attend the hearing -- charged across the front courthouse lawn to join the altercation before being apprehended by a police officer who demanded they leave.

A few of the dozen classmates yelled racial epithets before leaving to go to a balloon release in Derrick's honor. Derrick would have been a senior at Perryville.

Patterson's friends and family "started cussing and talking to us in the courtroom," said Kyle Bader, Derrick's best friend since the second grade. "They told us it was none of our business. It is our business. Derrick is gone."

Patterson's sister Lubertha Ellis said she was upset because she believes her brother had been wrongly convicted. She is trying to raise funds and find a pro bono lawyer to appeal the ruling.

"Ryan will walk this earth a free man again someday," she said.

Despite being involved in the scene in front of the courthouse, Derrick's father Bruce Orman said he is ready to move on.

"I think the healing process has begun," Bruce Orman said. "It will be good to put the courts behind us."

Rather than delivering a victim impact statement, Bruce Orman showed the courtroom photos of Derrick. He presented pictures of Derrick in Jamie Orman's womb and from the last weekend of his life. The last picture he presented was one from Derrick's funeral.

"This is the last picture of Derrick I have, and he's dead in his casket," Bruce Orman told the courtroom. "This coward has taken my son and his mother and has impacted so many individuals."

'Next best thing'

Bruce Orman said he wished Patterson would have gotten the death penalty but is happy Patterson will never leave prison.

"It's the next best thing," Bruce Orman said of the three consecutive life sentences. "I hope whatever happens in prison happens."

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Cline said he was unsure where Patterson would serve the sentence.

Patterson was the last of three conspirators to be sentenced in what prosecutors successfully argued was a murder-for-hire plot gone wrong. Michelle Lawrence, who authorities say masterminded a plot to kill her estranged husband for insurance money that ended with the Orman deaths, was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison on a conspiracy charge.

Samuel "Ray Ray" Hughes was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week on a single second-degree murder charge. Prosecutors said Hughes served as the lookout while Patterson committed the killings.

Both Lawrence and Hughes received plea deals for agreeing to cooperate in Patterson's prosecution.

Jamie Orman was the girlfriend of Michelle Lawrence's husband, John Lawrence. Michelle Lawrence and Ryan Patterson were romantically involved.

Ellis said she believes Hughes was the triggerman, not Patterson. She said her brother was treated unfairly and misled throughout the legal process.

"Some of the evidence just doesn't match up," Ellis said, noting blood on some of the clothing worn by Patterson and Hughes. "Look at some of the jury who convicted him, they don't even believe it."

While Patterson may never be free again, feelings of grief and sadness still resonate in Jamie Orman's sister Kelly Yates Hoffman.

"Every day is like a bad dream," she said. "Today there is still so much pain and anger. No one deserves this. We're all shattered and broken."

psullivan@semissourian.com

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