Paterson policeman tries to withdraw guilty plea in 2 assault cases

PATERSON — A convicted Paterson police officer who admitted in federal court that he assaulted two city men in separate incidents three weeks apart in 2020 is now trying to withdraw his guilty plea.

Kevin Patino — who was fired two weeks after pleading guilty last February — filed a motion in federal court on Friday saying he confessed to crimes he did not commit, which he said he did based on his lawyer's advice.

One of the two incidents, recorded by a security camera, showed Patino repeatedly strike the then-19-year-old Osama Alsaidi of Paterson in December of 2020, prompting the New Jersey Council on American-Islamic Relations to call for the termination of Patino and the other officer who was with him, Kendry Tineo, accusing them of police brutality.

But Patino said in his court declaration filed on Friday that he didn’t do anything wrong. He said he didn’t realize the consequences of his guilty plea, including that he would lose his job as a Paterson police officer and his pension rights, and that he could possibly be banned from working for any government agencies in New Jersey.

“My attorney encouraged me to accept the pleas, advising me that I was pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, which is a ‘slap on the wrist,’ and it would be like nothing ever happened,” Patino said in his court statement. “My attorney told me that I may even be able to keep my job as a Paterson police officer, and even if I couldn’t, then I could become a firefighter instead.”

“I advised my attorney I was not comfortable standing up in court and saying that I did something I did not do,” Patino added. “He told me to just answer ‘yes’ to everything and block it all out. So that is what I did.”

Pleaded to federal misdemeanor

Patino said he was asked 137 questions during his guilty plea on Feb. 8. The fired cop said the fact that he pleaded guilty to a crime classified as a federal misdemeanor created confusion. He said he thought that meant there would be minimal consequences.

But he said he later learned that the misdemeanor was at least the equivalent of a third-degree official misconduct crime.

The United States Attorney’s Office has until July 15 to file opposition to Patino’s motion, under an order issued Monday by United States District Court Judge Esther Salas. Patino’s prison sentencing had been scheduled for later this month.

Federal authorities had dropped their charges against Tineo in the Alsaidi case a week after Patino pleaded guilty. Court records indicated indicated prosecutors may have been planning to call Tineo to testify against Patino if the case went to trial. Tineo still works as a Paterson police officer.

Also admitted assaulting Rosdward Hernandez

In addition to the Alsaidi incident, Patino also admitted assaulting Rosdward Hernandez in November of 2020. Alsaidi and Hernandez both filed pending lawsuits against Paterson and its police department.

One of Alsaidi’s lawyers in the civil case, Abdul Hamden, declined to comment on Patino’s request to withdraw his guilty plea.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect my client in the civil litigation whatsoever,” Hamden said. “The video speaks for itself.”

Angel Jimenez, the president of the Paterson PBA, said he had told Patino not to make the guilty plea, because of the consequences.

Jimenez said Patino had been unaware that the police union has a legal defense program for officers accused of wrongdoing and went out and paid his own money for a lawyer, Todd Spodek of New York. The PBA president said Spodek was not familiar with New Jersey’s new police licensing law, which made it easier to fire officers who commit misconduct, even crimes classified as misdemeanors.

Spodek declined to comment on Patino’s criticism of his handling of the case.

Under his plea deal, Patino faced a maximum of one year in prison for the charges and Spodek had said he likely would not have to serve any jail time.

In the court statement he filed Monday, Patino acknowledged the risk of going to trial if he is successful in withdrawing his guilty plea.

“I realize that if I am found guilty, the sentence imposed on me may be significantly harsher than the sentence I was facing with a guilty plea,” Patino said.