Man accused in toddler's death: Child choked on fruit snacks

• Joseph Robert Patterson accused of killing Tyrese Ruffin%2C 2-year-old son of Adrian Peterson
• Defense says child was choking while Patterson was using the bathroom
• Prosecutors want to present evidence from the prior bad acts
• Prosecutors say text messages show child would cry when left alone with Patterson

The man accused of beating a 2-year-old boy to death last October says he found the child slumped over and limp from choking on strawberry fruit snacks.

Joseph Robert Patterson, 28, also said he received an "I love you" text message from the child's mother just moments after she left her child with him to go work out.

Patterson gave his version of events through his lawyer as he appeared in court Thursday for a motions hearing.

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Prosecutors want jurors to hear evidence from previous accusations of child abuse against Patterson, who's charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Tyrese Ruffin, the 2-year-old son of NFL star Adrian Peterson.

The football player hadn't met the boy at the time of his death. He'd planned to visit Ruffin last fall, but wound up meeting him in the hospital as the boy was on life support.

The child's mother was living with Patterson last October, when Patterson called 911 to report a choking.

Doctors said the child sustained four blows, and that the blows likely caused his death.

Prosecutors want to tell the jury about a 2012 case with a different child, as well as about two assaults on adult domestic partners.

Patterson was charged with simple assault for spanking the child of a former girlfriend in 2012 after that girlfriend told him that the child had misbehaved in church. The boy sustained welts as a result of the beating.

He also assaulted the girlfriends when they wouldn't do as he asked, said Assistant Attorney General Laura Shattuck. Patterson was on bond two weeks ago when he was charged with kidnapping and assault for an alleged attack on Ruffin's mother.

Jurors ought to be allowed to hear evidence of prior bad acts in making their decision, Shattuck said.

"In each of these cases, you have victims who were not complying with this defendant," she said. "There is similarity between the victims."

Defense lawyer Tim Rensch said the similarities aren't clear enough to allow the prejudicial testimony.

On the day of the alleged assault, Rensch said, Ruffin came home from daycare and picked out a package of strawberry fruit snacks to eat. The child's mother left to work out, Rensch said, and sent a message to Patterson from the parking lot that said "I love you."

Patterson sat the child on the couch and went to the bathroom.

"He's in the bathroom for four to five minutes, and when he comes out, Tyrese is slumped over on the couch. He's limp," Rensch said.

Patterson called 911 and did everything he could to try and save the child, Rensch said. There was no evidence of anger or a lack of compliance on the child's part, he said.

Presenting evidence of Patterson's prior behavior in dissimilar situations would unfairly prejudice the jury, Rensch said. Other bad acts evidence is supposed to be excluded unless it speaks directly to the state's theory of a case.

"The reason that rule is there is to insure that if a defendant is convicted, he's convicted based on what he's done, beyond a reasonable doubt," Rensch said.

Resch also asserted that the child had died from a heart attack, that first responders smelled strawberries as they administered CPR, and that the hemorrhaging on the boy's brain could have been caused by a condition that kept his blood from clotting properly.

"There's not a slap mark on the little boy," Rensch said. "The other cases aren't comparable."

Judge Stuart Tiede pressed Shattuck for the state's theory of the case, but she didn't offer details of the specific interactions the state believes took place prior to the alleged assault.

Shattuck did say that the medical evidence is clear: Doctors found four separate impact areas on the boy's brain.

"There's no autopsy report that says the child died as a result of choking, a heart attack or anything other than blunt force trauma," she said.

There also were text messages exchanged in the weeks leading up to the boy's death that show Ruffin would cry when left with Patterson and that he was scared of Patterson, she said.

Prosecutors want to present evidence from the prior bad acts, but they also want to prevent Rensch from asking daycare providers if anyone had hit the child.

"This little boy has four blunt force blows to his head," said Assistant Attorney General Bob Mayer, tapping his own head for emphasis. "Somebody did that to him."

Rensch said he ought to be allowed to ask those who interacted with the boy about what he'd done that day, but said prosecutors needn't worry that he'll accuse someone else of a crime.

"It's our position that no crime has been committed," Rensch said.

Judge Tiede said he's take the matters under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date. Patterson's trial is set to begin in October.

Lincoln County State's Attorney Tom Wollman intended to ask for forfeiture of the $750,000 bond Patterson's father paid to secure his son's release last fall, but Judge Tiede heard at the start of the hearing that the attorney for Patterson's father needed more time to prepare.

Patterson remains in custody on a $1 million cash bond on the new kidnapping charge.