Update: Patterson retrial denied, 33-year sentence upheld

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - News Channel 6 has updated information on the previously reported story that former car dealership president Anthony Patterson was denied his appeal for a retrial.

Gillespie said the second Court of Appeals received Patterson’s appeal October 22 and returned its opinion at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“I don’t care who you are,” Gillespie said. “And this sends a message: It doesn’t matter who you are, who you know or how much much you have. You don’t get to do that to two little girls.”

What began as an investigation into into alleged human trafficking grew into one of the most serious child sex crime prosecutions in the region.

Investigators said in November and December 2017 Patterson worked in tandem with a woman named Jandreani Bell to traffic two young sisters. The two girls, 10 and eight years old at the time, were trafficked from Vernon to Patterson’s home in Wichita Falls, the investigators said.

Court records indicated the girls were instructed to undress, obey Patterson’s commands and perform sexual acts.

Patterson stepped down and resigned from his position at Patterson Auto Group in February 2021 after 13 child sex crime charges were filed against him.

After that, Gillespie said Patterson hired the same legal team that defended James Staley in his 2023 capital murder trial.

“I wanted a case that I knew would stand up in trial because of the kind of deep resources a defendant like that has. Unlimited resources,” Gillespie said. “He had a legal dream team at trial. Toby Shook... is a lawyer of nationwide prominence. He’s been on Dateline and 48 Hours and all the different shows with the cases he’s done.”

Nov. 20, 2024, Patterson was convicted on five of 13 charges: one count of trafficking of a person, three counts of indecency by exposure and one count of sexual performance by a child.

Thursday, the Second Court of Appeals upheld every conviction, rejecting Patterson’s claims that his trial was “unfair” or “unconstitutional.” Gillespie said getting to this point did not come easy.

“It’s been a really long journey. It was in my first year as DA that our office actually figured out who Anthony was,” Gillespie explained. “And then we led a super secret investigation with the DA’s office, the FBI and then the Texas Rangers that took us about a year and a half to build a prosecutable case against him.”

But, all of that work is worth it, he said, because it’s all about advocating for the young victims.

“It’s been the greatest calling of my life to be a voice for children who have never had anyone fight for them and speak for them,” Gillespie said.

The DA’s office had a chance to hear personally from the victims.

“The two girls told me and Brooke, the prosecutor that tried the case with me, they saw us argue closing arguments,” Gillespie said. “And they pulled us aside and they said, thank you, thank you. Nobody’s ever fought for us like this.”