Murder suspect attempts to use penis size in his defence

Richard Henry Patterson. Photo / Police handout

GRAPHIC CONTENT

A Florida man accused of murder has an interesting defence that a renowned pathologist is backing.

Richard Henry Patterson, 65, of Margate, wants permission from a judge to show his penis to a jury so they will believe his claim that Francisca Marquinez, 60, choked to death while performing oral sex, the Sun Sentinel reports.

Patterson's attorney claims former Broward County medical examiner, Dr Ronald Wright, will testify that Marquinez's death is 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."

Wright, the county's chief medical examiner from 1980 to 1994, declined to comment on the unusual defence, the newspaper reports.

However another high profile medical examiner, Dr Michael Baden, told the New York Post that although possible, accidental choking on a penis was not something he had come across.

"There's quite a number of ways that sexual activity can lead to inadvertent deaths, but I've never heard of choking on a penis," Baden said.

"That's up to the jury to decide whether to accept it or not," Baden said of Patterson's defence. "I've not seen it, that the penis alone will choke somebody to death. However, if there's obstruction, it's possible. And to choke to death, the penis has to obstruct the windpipe, probably down to the area of thyroid cartilage, or the Adam's apple, for a period of time."

Baden continued: "One could have no air coming in for a period of time under these circumstances and that would be possible, but I have not seen it. But it is possible."

No date has been set for a hearing on Patterson's motion to show the jury his penis.