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By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Terri Bozeman Lovell has denied a motion for a new trial for a Hayneville man sentenced to life without possibility of parole in connection with a home invasion case.

However, according to Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Ruby Jones-Thomas, notice of appeal (for the verdict and sentence) was filed on Tuesday May 27th.

According to a copy of an E-Notice provided by District Attorney Charlotte M. Tesmer, Lovell denied the motion for a new trial for Robert Patterson by written order on Tuesday, May 20.

Robert Christerforo Patterson, who was 21 of Hayneville at the time of his arrest in 2012 and who was found guilty by a Lowndes County Jury in April of this year on charges of burglary in the first degree, attempted murder and robbery in the first degree in connection with a home invasion case, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Lovell on Wednesday, May 7.

At the time of his sentencing, his attorney, William Morgan Rayborn of Brantley, declined to comment on the sentence but said he planned to file a motion for a new trial.

The Lowndes Signal was unsuccessful in attempts to contact Rayborn after the motion for new trial was denied.

At the time of sentencing Tesmer said Lovell didn’t have much of a choice on the sentence under the habitual offender law.

She said, “With his (Patterson’s) past and these kind of crimes, that’s what happens to you. It’s a shame that someone that age would throw his life away, but I think it’s a message to other folks in Lowndes County our community is just not going to tolerate home invasion type crimes.”

She said Patterson had been previously charged with murder, distribution of a controlled substance and robbery.

Tesmer said Patterson received a split sentence and was out on probation when the charges for which he was sentenced took place.