Last of five co-defendants in home-invasion robbery case gets 22 months in prison

A 21-year-old Lawrence man convicted of three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated burglary in the November armed robbery of four Kansas University students will spend more than a year and a half in prison, a judge decided Thursday.

Gabriel Patterson

Gabriel “Gabe” Patterson was convicted of the charges after a May jury trial in which three of his four co-defendants — Zachary John Pence, 21, and 20-year-olds Driskell Alan Johnson and Yusef Muhammad Kindell, all of Lawrence — testified that they, Patterson and a fifth codefendant, Cody Kukuk, 22, of Lawrence, went to a Hawks Pointe II apartment at 951 Arkansas St. on Nov. 8.to rob its residents.

Cody Kukuk

The co-defendants and victims said Johnson, Kukuk and Pence entered the residence, battered three men inside and took more than $1,000 in cash, about $1,000 worth of marijuana, an Xbox and several cellphones from the apartment. None of the residents sought medical attention, but three had bruising from beatings with Johnson’s handgun and a table leg Kukuk carried as a weapon.

Driskell Alan Johnson

Kindell testified that he and Patterson remained outside on the porch while the crimes occurred, but Pence testified that he remembered seeing Patterson cross the apartment’s threshold momentarily, but not fully enter the home. Kindell admitted to organizing the crime, picking out the victims and even drawing a diagram of the apartment, which he had previously visited to buy drugs.

Yusef M. Kindell

Patterson, however, never held a weapon, was present but did not participate in discussions of planning the crime and only briefly stepped inside the residence to pet a dog, according to testimony.

At Patterson’s sentencing hearing Thursday, his attorney, Adam Hall, argued that he should be given probation in lieu of prison time because of Patterson’s “passive” role in the crime. He said the other codefendants were the “mastermind” and “muscle” of the operation.

“Though guilty, he is the least culpable (of the co-defendants),” Hall said. “He was just a big body. He didn’t go inside. He didn’t like the violence.”

Patterson told Douglas County District Judge Paula Martin he was “trying to turn over a new leaf” after the crime, and that he would benefit from probation.

“I take responsibility for my actions. I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” Patterson said. “I want to prove to everyone that I can stay out of trouble.”

But Senior Assistant District Attorney Eve Kemple said at the hearing that though Patterson “was not wielding a weapon,” he was still convicted of “four major felonies.”

“The defendant was on notice that (the robbery) was going to be intense,” Kemple said. “He absolutely knew guns would be involved because that’s what was going to make (the victims) cooperate.”

Kemple said that the act “was not a mistake, (it) was a choice” and that the crimes continue to haunt the victims.

“He has had lots of advantages in life with a good family,” Kemple said. “He had a world of opportunities open to him and he chose Mr. Kukuk, friends, parties, drugs and robberies.”

Martin weighed Patterson’s role in the crime compared to his co-defendants, and decided to sentence Patterson to 22 months in prison.

At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, he was placed in handcuffs and hugged his mother before going to the courthouse’s holding cell. He’d previously been free on a $25,000 bond since Feb. 12.

Earlier this year, Johnson and Kukuk were sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and Kindell received two and a half years in prison. Pence was given 36 months probation because he cooperated with police and prosecutors from the first week of his arrest, even testifying against his co-defendants at their joint preliminary hearing.

Zachary John Pence

Patterson has 86 days — or nearly three months — credit of time served, Martin said. He is also eligible for a 15 percent “good time” credit, meaning that if he resists trouble in prison, he could be released about three months early.

When he is released, Patterson will be ordered to register as a violent offender for 15 years because a gun was involved in the commission of the crime. He will also be placed on parole for three years following his release.