A deadly argument over cheap artwork landed a Roy man in prison for five years to life.
Darrell Lee Patrick, 46, was sentenced Friday in Ogden's 2nd District Court for shooting and killing his stepson in a dispute over the wall hangings. Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham said the hangings were valued at about $100.
Second District Judge Roger Dutson enhanced Patrick's sentence by one year for using a firearm during the murder but gave him credit for time served.
On the night of Sept. 3, 2004, police first received a phone call from a woman who wanted to report she had just had a fight with her son, 36-year-old Shaun Scott, on the phone over the five landscape paintings.
Just six minutes later, police received a second call saying Scott had been shot.
Some time between the two calls, Scott — who lived in the same mobile home park on Midland Drive as his mother — went over to her mobile home to confront her about the paintings. Once he arrived, the argument escalated, and Patrick, Scott's stepfather, shot him once in the upper torso.
Patrick told authorities he shot Scott with a .22-caliber pistol in self-defense after hearing Scott argue with his mother, Kay Patrick, on the phone about the decor.
"Shaun had threatened to kick both our asses for taking the paintings," Patrick said in previous testimony, according to court transcripts. Patrick has said Scott had assaulted him in the past.
Jurors weren't swayed by the self-defense argument. In June, jurors deliberated late into the night for nearly five hours before finding Patrick guilty of murder.
The judge also ordered Patrick to pay $1,583.75 to Cindy Scott and $14,871.73 to Crime Victim Reparations.
Police responding to the scene said a lot of alcohol had been consumed by everyone involved in the altercation. The home had an extensive history of family fights, Whinham said.
Late last week, Kay Patrick filed for divorce against the man who killed her son.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com