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Attorneys for confessed killer Kody Patten petitioned Elko County Justice of the Peace Al Kacin to hire a private detective last week according to court documents.
In a motion filed by attorneys John Ohlson of Reno and Jeffrey Kump of Elko requested that the state approved funds to hire a private investigator to aid in their defense of Patten.
Now being held in the Elko County Jail without bond, Patten, 18, confessed to the brutal March 4, murder of 16 year old Micaela “Mickie” Costanzo. Both the killer and the victim were students at West Wendover high school and lived in the same apartment complex.
According to a synopsis of his confession submitted at his charging hearing, Patten stalked Costanzo while she attended track practice on Thursday March 3 and laid in wait while she changed in the girls’ locker room. Patten, then lured the girl with the promise of a ride home into a an SUV, Patten borrowed just for that day. He then told police he drove to a gravel pit five miles west of town and killed her with a shovel, burying her body in a shallow grave at the pit.
Costanzo’s body was found Sunday morning and Patten was brought for questioning that afternoon. After a marathon interrogation Patten confessed to the killing but insisted to police that it was an accident.
The motion for a private investigator is the strongest indication yet that Elko District Attorney is leaning heavily to seeking the death penalty since the appointment of Patten’s publicly paid for attorneys.
Ohlson is one of the most experienced death penalty defense attorneys in northern Nevada and Kump is the only lawyer in Elko certified to defend death penalty cases.
The short synopsis of Patten’s confession easily qualifies him for capitol punishment meeting several of the criteria of aggravated murder even if Costanzo’s autopsy revealed she was not sexually assaulted, according to sources close to the investigation.
And with what is known even to the public the bare facts of the case there is little if any doubt that Patten killed the young girl.
The reason behind having a private investigator could be twofold: investigating the police handling of the case and looking for “mitigating” evidence that could be used to sway a jury during the sentencing phase of the case.
First and foremost for the defense could be to suppress Patten’s damning confession.
While the case is strong even without the confession, it would be devastating to the defense if the confession was read or replayed in open court.
If that is the defense strategy their investigator will leave no stone un-turned in the search for evidence that could support a claim that the confession was illegally obtained and Patten’s rights were violated.
From the synopsis of the confession it is known that Patten did not ask for a lawyer just before he admitted to the killing but rather asked his interrogators to speak with his father. It was only after the discussion with the older Patten, did the 18 year old man confess.
Patten turned 18 on December 31, 2010 and the man’s relative youth at the time of the crime could also be used by the defense to play on the sympathies any future jury should the case go to trial.
Patten’s age could also figure into the case in another way, his juvenile criminal record. While release of that record is forbidden by law, confidential sources have confirmed to the Advocate that Kody Patten what could be an extensive history of violence toward others while a minor.
According to one well place source Patten was just one infraction away from being expelled from West Wendover High School at the time of Costanzo’s murder while another said that his last run in with the law as a minor concluded just a few weeks before he turned 18.
In addition to looking into Kody Patten’s life the PI if the motion is approved by the judge could also investigate the victim, her family and her friends. In doing so the defense will walk a very fine line between trying to save Patten’s life to casting aspersions on the young victim.
Any investigator for the defense would also be interested in establishing a hint of a romantic relationship between Patten and Costanzo.
“He is young and there is a man/woman element in this case,” his attorney Ohlson said earlier shortly after he was appointed last month. “That usually mitigates it among jurors.”
The motion to fund a private investigator is also indicative of the cost of trying a death penalty case.
With costs estimated to begin at a minimum of $1 million, double or even triple that amount is not unheard of in Nevada.
With Patten all but indigent the state will most likely pay the costs of both the defense and the prosecution.