EVALUATION OF SWINEY CASE 
by Dr. Boris DeKorczak, Ph.D - Private Investigator - 1997 - written before the exculpatory forensic reports were found 

This new investigation finds many weak points in the process of finding Patrick Swiney guilty of Murder 1. It is fair to say though, that there are indications that the case should be treated as a "Crime of Passion", which carries with it much lesser sentence than the one given to Patrick Swiney.

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1. Allegations that the State had suppressed exculpatory evidence –reinvestigate 
2. The testimony of the State Medical Examiner regarding non-performance of autopsy examination – find reasoning behind it. 
3. Time of death of the victims. -? 
4. Any other suspects? 
5. Inefficiency of defense and lack of Motion for Discovery. 
6. Lack of medical examination of Patrick immediately after arrest. /Black-out/ 
7. Psychiatric evaluation of Patrick. ? 
8. Mike Campbell and his relationship with victims – reinvestigate. His arrest records? 
9. Ronnie Pate. – Investigate his records, drug connections etc. 
10. Patrick’s Police reports and/or eventual drug ring investigation reports. Internal Affairs reports? 
11. Lab tests of projectiles v. lab test of the 22 barrel. 
12. Evidence of Betty and Ronnie Pate involvement in sexual intercourse. Vaginal swabs, DNA, etc. Any lab tests? If yes – what were the results. 
13. Was there a paraffin test done on Patrick hands after the shooting. Results./?/ 
14. Gun powder residue test of Patrick’s clothing? 
15. Forensic tests of the window glass holes; Entry or exit? 
16. Blood spatters.-? Forensic lab discoveries? 
17. Shoddy police Investigative Team’s work at the CS. – Is it the usual procedure? 

Patrick Swiney was a police officer in the State of Alabama for 13 years. From 1965 to 1969, he was with the Huntsville Police Department. From 1969 to 1973, he was with the Vestavia P.D. From 1973 to 1977 he was with the Gulf Shores P.D. From 1977 to 1980 he worked as a legal investigator for Bell, Johnson, & Hill, Attorneys at Law in Pelham, Alabama. His supervisor was Richard W. Bell, Attorney. From 1980 to 1986 he worked as an over-the-road driver for various transportation companies, and was home-based in Shelby County. His academic accomplishments are as follows: 

• Associates of Arts Degree, Jefferson Davis College, Brewton, Alabama, 1993
• Truck driver training, University of Montevallo, 1982
• University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama (Criminal Justice/Psychology)
• Huntsville Police Academy, 1976
• Associate Instructor, Huntsville Police Academy, 1968
• Alabama State Police Academy, 1967
• Specialized Education Programs:
• Private Pilot - single engine land (147 hours logged - approximately 225 hours unlogged)
• Photo-Electric Intoximeter School, Alabama Department of Health Permit #211, 1970
• Certified Forensic Photography, University of Alabama, 1978
• Electricity/Basic Electronics, Technical Training Center, 1969
• Alabama Civil Defense, Medical Self-Help Training Center, 1967
• Advanced First-Aid, American Red Cross First-Aid Training Center, 1967

In 1977, Patrick turned in his badge. He was given a choice to stay and join in on the under-the-table payoffs or leave, so he left. While Patrick was serving at the Gulf Shores P.D., there many threats made against his life. The most serious was the threat to kill his 3 year-old daughter who was living with her mother 250 miles away. This threat was taken seriously because the three men who threatened to kill his daughter informed Patrick that they knew the color of her house, how many people lived in that house, the telephone number and other details to convince Patrick that they meant what they were saying. Patrick attempted to confront these three men, but they slipped out of town that night in the trunk of a car.

Before he left the Gulf Shores Police Department, Patrick gathered the original evidence that caused the Federal Court to convict the Baldwin County D.A. and the Chief Investigator with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for their corruption. At the same time, Patrick was involved in a drug ring investigation, where 47,000 pounds of drugs were uncovered, and he was on the verge of uncovering a link between the drug ring and the officials in Baldwin County whom he suspected of laundering money and racketeering.

During this investigation, there was an assassination attempt on Patrick’s life. Three men attacked Patrick and cut his face up pretty badly. Photographs are available. Patrick’s family doctor put in several hundred stitches and today there are no noticeable scars. Only one of the three men who attacked Patrick was charged with simple assault and fined. The Baldwin County Judge in the case lowered the charge from first degree assault with intent to murder without consulting Patrick, or the Gulf Shores Police Department, where the assassination attempt took place. The other two men were never charged. This is all a matter of record in Baldwin County.

In 1987 Patrick, age 43, married Betty Snow, age 38. Betty Snow’s family is well-heeled and very influential in Alabama. Influential enough to get the State to put in an Interstate off-ramp to their business when there weren’t any other businesses around for miles. Betty Snow was very close with the Shelby County D.A., Mike Campbell, who went to high school with Patrick and who was a friend of the Baldwin County D.A., who was arrested for corruption.

We have since determined that Mike Campbell and Betty Snow were having an affair while she and Patrick were married. Betty Snow was also still romantically connected to her ex-husband, Ronnie Pate, when she married Patrick Swiney, but Patrick was unaware of this at the time. Had he been aware of this, they would not have gotten married. Patrick and Ronnie Pate never met and never spoke to each other.

One night, after a bad argument, Patrick voluntarily left their house to avoid further conflicts. He loaded his belongings in his truck and drove to his mother’s house, feeling worn out because of the arguing, a result of him trying his best to help his wife with her excessive drinking problem. The next day he returned to their house to collect his telephone and answering machine and his .22 rifle. That night he remembered his dog, Crybaby, had been left outside and he decided to go check on her. According to Patrick’s mother, he got all "gussied" up, thinking he’d go make up with his wife and give it another try, for she had begged him not to leave the night before.

When he arrived, he looked in the window to see if she was home and he saw his wife and a man who turned out to be her ex-husband in adulterous acts. That was when he blacked out [see newspaper article quoting him as saying it felt as though he’d been hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat]. When he more or less came to, he saw his wife and ex-husband lying on the floor, having been shot. He also saw himself sitting there with a .22 rifle lying across the palms of his hands (almost as though it had been put there). This was the .22 that happened to be in his truck at the time, along with the telephone and answering machine he’d picked up earlier that day. And, even though it made no sense to him at all, he assumed, "Oh my God, I must have shot them!"

His immediate reaction was to try to get medical help for them. He rushed to his sister’s house and told his sister and mother they had better call the paramedics because he thought he might have shot them, but in all truth, he had no memory at all of what happened (and to this day, still doesn’t). His mother told me he was as white as a ghost when he walked in to tell them what had apparently happened, and that he was so shaken up that he was in no shape to take care of the phone calls to get help for his wife and Ronnie Pate.

Patrick Swiney, has received a conviction of capital murder with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. He is currently serving time at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama.. The charge of capital murder convicts him of premeditated and conscious murder. case at all

Writ of Habeas Corpus submitted 28 March 1997 is now in the Federal courts, and he is awaiting a response from them. Patrick Swiney has already served 8 years .

It is now the year 1997. Patrick Swiney is now a 52-year man who is still being held in prison on a capital murder charge after 8 years of trying to get a fair trial. His sentence is life without the possibility of parole. The District Attorney’s name is J. Michael Campbell of Shelby County. 

Campbell is no longer in office. Patrick’s Community campaigned together and voted him out after the trial. The current District Attorney was the Assistant D.A. during Patrick’s trial. His name is Robbie Owens. D.A. Owens told Patrick’s mother, sister and others after the trial, "that Patrick really got a raw deal." Today, we are calling on D.A. Owens to come forth with the truth about the "wrong" that occurred.

1. there was not one scintilla of evidence presented against Patrick Swiney, 
2. the State Medical Examiner testified that basic autopsy examinations were not performed at the request of D.A. Mike Campbell. 
3. evidence that would have freed Patrick was purposely destroyed forever, 
4. the scene of the tragedy was not secured, but abandoned, 
5. evidence found at the scene was offered to the court as evidence but never presented, 
6. evidence that was presented revealed that what happened at the scene could not be determined, 
7. Mike Campbell continually asked the jury for the death penalty knowing that the required statutory aggravating circumstances were never present, 
8. the defense attorney, Richard (Dick) Bell, testified that his only reason for his errors and omissions was to merely save Patrick from the death penalty when he also knew the required elements were never there, 
9. no Motion for Discovery was ever filed, 
10. no Motion for Suppression of statements made and evidence to be used at trial was ever filed, 
11. the State rested its case, having not proven its case, and Dick Bell did not make a motion for the jury to submit a written verdict of not guilty, 
12. Judge Rochester told the jury that it was more likely that Patrick committed the crime than that Patrick did not the commit the crime, 
13. that Mike Campbell perjured himself before the Judge, 
14. that Dick Bell was a witness to this perjury, 
15. that Mike Campbell insisted to serve Patrick with an unrelated small claims suit in front of the jury for the purpose of further swaying the jury against him, 
16. that the jury was not impartial going in, 
17. that Mike Campbell knowingly lied to the press and to the jury, 
18. that Mike Campbell counseled the victim’s family to plead to the jury not to hand down a death penalty, when Campbell knew a death penalty was impossible, 
19. that Judge Rochester told Mike Campbell, Dick Bell, and another attorney in chambers that all they had, at the maximum, was a manslaughter case against Patrick, 
20. that the State never proved its case against Patrick, 
21. that the jury did not take part in the penalty phase of the trial, 
22. and that Patrick, was presumed guilty until proven innocent. 

Patrick has never claimed innocence. He claims he just doesn’t know what happened because he blacked out and didn’t witness the events that took place. He placed himself at the scene of the tragedy but he was there because he lived there. The argument with his wife the night before did not constitute imminent threat of divorce [see Mike Campbell’s statement to the contrary]. Up until the time he saw his wife with another man, Patrick had not questioned his wife’s fidelity. They had rocky times in their marriage because of her drinking problem, but there is no evidence of any sort of abuse at any time.

Both Mickey Johnson (a member of Patrick’s family who is also an attorney and who was initially planning to help defend Patrick) and Dick Bell told Patrick that in chambers during a pre-trial conference, Judge Rochester said to Mickey Johnson, Dick Bell and Mike Campbell, "Why can’t you reach some type of plea agreement, the most you have on the man is two manslaughters, and that’s max."

The defense attorney, Dick Bell, claimed that Patrick’s actions were a result of "heat of passion", but at no time was an expert witness called to verify how "heat of passion" works. This would have substantiated that in cases of heat of passion, "IF" Patrick was responsible for the deaths, then the charge should have been lessened to fit the offense of accidental homicide. In cases of "heat of passion", manslaughter is the possible maximum charge, and more often than not, there is little or no prison sentence because the person suffering from the heat of passion syndrome is not a criminal, but a victim who suddenly snaps when unexpectedly confronted with a first-hand view of his or her spouse committing adultery. [ref: Bureau of Justice Statistics report dated Sept., 1995]

D.A. Campbell, on the other hand (even after hearing the judge’s words at the pre-trial conference), insisted that Patrick stalked his wife that night because he planned to murder her. Patrick, being a police officer, is a marksman shot and knowledgeable of weapons. Had this been premeditated, he would not have used a .22 (the weapon that was assumed, though not proven, to have caused the deaths) but a weapon that would have been sure to accomplish their demise without question. Had this been premeditated, Patrick would not have tried to get medical help for the victims and stuck around to see what he could do to help. Had this been premeditated, Patrick would not have placed himself at the scene of the tragedy. Had this been premeditated, Patrick would have left town, after covering his tracks, just like any criminal would, except that Patrick is not a criminal, but an honest and caring man.

To prove his point, Campbell tried to show that Patrick had murderous tendencies because a witness of the D.A.’s said he saw Patrick shoot a crow with a pellet gun while Patrick and his wife lived together. This witness also established that Patrick was keeping crows out of Patrick’s garden. But in truth, Patrick was keeping the crows from eating the seeds he’d put out for his tiny blue birds which were becoming extremely rare in Alabama.

To further prove his point, Campbell called Betty Snow’s influential family to the stand and they said that they heard Ronnie Pate tell them that Patrick threatened to kill him, except that Patrick and Ronnie Pate had never met, never spoken to each other, and Patrick did not even know his wife was still involved with him. And unfortunately, Ronnie Pate was no longer alive to substantiate what the Snows said they heard him say. Still, the defense attorney did not object to this hearsay. This strategy [as Bell testified later] was to keep Patrick from the receiving the death penalty, except that Bell had already heard the judge’s words in the pre-trial conference and had already told the jury that Patrick’s actions were a result of heat of passion.

In addition, Campbell told the jury that Patrick and Betty Snow were getting a divorce and that she thought it had been a mistake to marry him in the first place. Except that she was no longer alive to verify this statement either. And still, the defense attorney did not object to this hearsay.

Since there is no possible way to defend oneself against hearsay, and since the defense attorney was not making any objections to the hearsay, Patrick had no choice but to testify. He testified that he blacked out and had no recollection of what happened. He said, "It was like someone had hit me in the back of the head with a baseball bat." He does not and has never had a drug problem, and he was not drunk that night. In other words, the black out was not caused by drugs or alcohol. It could have been caused by shock or it could have been caused by a blow to the back of the head with something that felt like a baseball bat.

When he was charged, Patrick’s community banned together to raise bail in the amount of $150,000. When Mike Campbell saw this, he went to the court to get the bond raised to $500,000 and within one day, the community of property owners put their life savings and properties on the line to raise that bond for Patrick. This action alone attests to Patrick’s decent and ethical character. The community trusted him and knew he was not guilty of murder. They still feel this way about him after all these years. Their signatures are on file.

The reason the court raised the bond was because D.A. Campbell, told the court that Patrick Swiney was a transient. His defense attorney, Dick Bell, was there to hear this and he laughed (as though it were a supreme joke) as he reported this to Patrick, knowing that Patrick and the D.A. had gone to high school together and that Patrick grew up in Shelby County. This was outright and intentional perjury on the part of Mike Campbell.

The State Medical Examiner testified that he deviated from his normal procedures because Mike Campbell had specifically requested that he not perform certain standard autopsy examinations. The State Medical Examiner testified that this request was highly unusual, yet he went along with Campbell’s request, knowing that this was against the standard ethics of protocol which are designed to ensure impartiality.

The court not only let the intentional destruction of this evidence slide, it did not immediately direct a verdict of not guilty, as it should have done.

The examination did not include a vaginal swab which would have proven adultery. Did D.A. Campbell want to prevent the court from finding out the truth?

The scene of the tragedy was not secured, it was abandoned. Evidence of an alleged crime scene must be in someone’s care from the "secured" alleged crime scene to the court room. Everyone knows that without the scene being secured, anyone could remove or plant evidence.

In court, Mike Campbell said, with conviction as though fact, that the fatal shots came from outside and went through the window. But the window in question was not removed until late the next afternoon. The scene had been abandoned, and only later did they go back to the scene of the tragedy to collect the window. Obviously, this is a blatant break in the chain of evidence, because anything could have been done to that window while no body was there to insure that everything remained the same.

After the Habeas Corpus Hearing, D.A. Mike Campbell, made the statement to Patrick’s mother, sister and others that, "At no time was Patrick in danger of the death penalty. The required elements were never there." 

Mike Campbell told the jury that, "The defendant was on the hunt that night. He was wounded. His pride was hurt. What was left was hatred and jealousy of the ugliest kind. And he murdered her." He told the newspapers and the court that, "Mrs. Swiney had been married to Ronnie Pate five years. She married Swiney on the rebound and had been with him five months before asking him to leave two nights before the shooting. The marriage never got off the rocks. She rejected him. She hurt his ego. It was a cold, white-hot heat of jealous rage, not heat of passion," This was said with such passion that you’d have thought these were the raw feelings going on inside Campbell himself when he learned of the affair Betty Snow was having with Ronnie Pate. 

Mike Campbell told the jury that Patrick had planned to kill his wife and Pate. That he and his wife were in the process of getting a divorce and that Patrick had become extremely jealous because he knew she was going to return to Pate.

During this process, the jury asked the court two important questions: (1) what is heat of passion, and (2) what is reasonable doubt. Judge Rochester told them while explaining reasonable doubt, that is was more likely that Patrick committed the crime [of capital murder] than it was that he did not commit the crime.

This investigator finds more then "reasonable doubt in guilt of Patrick Swiney. The question if a crime of passion or murder has been committed puts the sentencing in deep doubt. Lack of psychiatric opinion about the state of mind of Patrick Swiney makes this charade look even more like Inquisition court than American Justice. Investigation goes on.

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