Attorney Profiles

At Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, Patrick is active in the defense of a wide variety of litigation areas including motor vehicle liability, premises liability, and municipal liability. With his extensive criminal law background, Patrick also handles civil rights defense and insurance fraud cases. He has successfully handled several civil rights and municipal liability cases involving prisons and police departments. Patrick has represented a considerable number of police officers, police departments, municipalities, and prisons in civil rights litigation.

Patrick is a graduate of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. Following his graduation from college, Patrick attended Ohio Northern University School of Law where he achieved his Juris Doctorate degree in 1987. He then acted as law clerk for the Honorable Shad Connelly of the Court of Common Pleas for Erie County, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Marshall, Dennehey, Patrick served as an Erie County Assistant District Attorney for more than eight years. As an Assistant District Attorney, he tried over 100 criminal cases, including several high-profile homicide cases, together with several precedent-setting cases.

Patrick was an adjunct professor at Gannon University where he taught an undergraduate course in Criminal Evidence. He was also a lecturer in the joint project between the Erie County Courts and the Erie City School District entitled "Personal Responsibility and the Law." Patrick also was a regular lecturer in the Erie County Bar Association's "Stepping Out" program by which Erie County lawyers addressed high school students regarding legal issues facing them upon graduation.

Significant Representative Matters

• Defended a former City of Erie Police Officer who was tried with his partner and the City of Erie in an excessive use of force matter arising from the arrest of the plaintiff, who sustained facial and low back injuries in the arrest. The case was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The jury returned defense verdicts for both officers and the City of Erie.
  
  
• Defended two City of Erie Police Officers, the Chief of Police, and the City of Erie in an civil rights suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The police were invited into The plaintiff’s home by her 18-year-old son to keep the peace while he gathered his belongings and moved out. During this, The plaintiff assaulted one of the officers and was taken into custody. In her struggles with the officers, The plaintiff sustained injuries to her wrist. She claimed illegal entry, illegal arrest, and excessive use of force. The jury returned defense verdicts after 20 minutes of deliberation.
  
  
• Defending a number of Erie County Sheriff’s Deputies who used a Taser on a convict who struggled with them as he was lead from the courtroom following sentencing.
  
  
• Defending the Erie County Prison and the McKean County Jail in a number of prisoner suits alleging violations of 8th amendment and other civil rights violations regarding their incarceration in prison.
  
  
• Defending the McKean County District Attorney, County Commissioners, and McKean County Prothonotary in civil rights actions arising from the plaintiff’s prosecution for criminal and protection from abuse matters.
  
  
• Defending the Erie County District Attorney, Adult Probation Officers, and Clerk of Courts in a suit stemming from a criminal sentencing issue imposed on the plaintiff.
  
  
• Defending various officials in Warren County, including their Sheriff, District Attorney, Public Defender, and Prothonotary, in civil rights claims raised by a convict.