'Distasteful' penis size argument 'most likely wrong' in Florida case

Richard Henry Patterson. Photo / Police handout

Lawyers for a Florida man accused of murder have acknowledged they always knew the size of their client's penis did not cause his girlfriend to choke and die.

Richard Patterson, who faced second-degree murder charges, claimed in his defence that his girlfriend Francisca Marquinez, 60, accidentally choked to death while performing oral sex on him in 2015.

Patterson wanted to show his penis to the jury to back up an expert's opinion that Marquinez's death was consistent with being "accidentally sexually asphyxiated during oral sex".

"It is material and relevant," attorney Ken Padowitz wrote in a motion to the court.

"The view by the jury is essential for them to fully understand Dr Wright's testimony and the defence in this case."

Last week, both sides of the court argued over whether or not Patterson would need to be erect when he showed the jury his penis for it to be relevant as evidence.

"Do we do it in the back? Do we do it in open court?" assistant state attorney Peter Sapak asked.

"How is the defendant going to be erect when the jury views it? Because a flaccid penis, whether it be a picture or the jury actually seeing it, is completely irrelevant."

Padowitz admitted today that the sensational defence was part of his strategy all along.

"I always had the same strategy throughout the trial," Padowitz told the Sun Sentinel. "The jury heard me say to them in opening that my client believed this was the way Ms Marquinez died. What I didn't tell them until closing is that he was most likely wrong."

"As distasteful and humiliating as the defence strategy was here, it was absolutely necessary since my client believed that was how this woman died," Padowitz said.