A judge has denied former Limestone County District Court Judge Doug Patterson’s request to serve the remainder of his four year prison sentence within Community Corrections. Patterson pled guilty in October 2020, to unlawful use of his official position or office for personal gain and first-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person.

Patterson was sentenced in December 2020 to serve concurrent sentences of 16 years, split with four years to be served in the state penitentiary followed by six years of supervised probation. Patterson was also ordered to pay $72,822.71 in restitution.

On Sept. 11, 2023, with 14 months left to serve of his sentence, Patterson’s attorney filed a motion with the court for Patterson’s release. Patterson had hoped to be released to finish his sentence with Limestone County Community Corrections while being able to live at home with his family.

Retired Morgan County Judge Steven Haddock, who presided over the case as Special Circuit Judge, said in his order denying Patterson’s request, “Before imposing Patterson’s concurrent sentences for his two Class B felony convictions, the Court determined that the 4-year split sentence was a fair, reasonable and just sentencing alternative.”

He continued, “The Alabama Department of Corrections has placed Patterson in protective custody for his safety and was justified in doing so. While such placement may have resulted in his ineligibility for work release, Patterson has not applied for a modification of his protective custody. Rather, he strikes the Court as believing that he has an entitlement to court-ordered relief from his split sentence. To the contrary, an inmate’s early release from institutional confinement pursuant to a split sentence is not an entitlement.”

In 2020, Patterson admitted to writing checks to himself for hundreds and thousands of dollars at a time from the Charles Hardy conservatorship account, then lying to Hardy’s daughter about how much was left in the account for years before getting a loan under false pretenses and paying back less than half of what he’d stolen.

Patterson also admitted to beginning his theft from the Limestone County Juvenile Fund just 32 days after becoming a judge, writing 70 checks to himself over the next three years and three months for a total of nearly $50,000 that would have otherwise been spent to help children in the juvenile court system. Records state he used his job to impose extra costs and fees to add to the fund from which he was stealing.

Finally, Patterson admitted to taking money from the estate of Charles Allen, a man for whom Patterson had served as conservator before becoming judge.