Michael Patino Found Guilty of the Beating Death of Six-Year-Old Marco Nieves

Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that today, a Providence County Superior Court jury found Michael Patino (age 33) guilty of second degree murder in the 2009 beating death of six-year-old Marco Nieves. The jury returned the guilty verdict after deliberating for eight hours following a 11-day trial presided over by Superior Court Justice Netti C. Vogel.

During the course of the trial, the State proved that on October 3, 2009, the defendant beat six-year-old Marco Nieves so severely that the child later died as a result of his injuries.

On the morning of October 4, 2009, six-year-old Marco Nieves was found unresponsive and not breathing by his mother, Trisha Oliver and the defendant inside her apartment at 575 Dyer Avenue, Cranston and thereafter called E-911. Cranston Fire and Rescue arrived and immediately transported Marco to Hasbro Children’s Hospital and alerted hospital emergency personnel that Marco was in full cardiac arrest. The boy was pronounced dead 11 hours later.

During the trial, former Rhode Island Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson testified that the child died as a result of peritonitis, or inflammation of the abdominal cavity, caused by blunt force trauma to his abdomen that caused a tear in his intestine. Dr. Gilson and Dr. Linda Snelling, Chief of Pediatric Critical Care at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, both testified that Marco had other inflicted injuries on his body.

Also at trial, more than two dozen text messages sent by Patino to Trisha Oliver, in which he admitted striking and hitting Marco, were introduced as evidence. In one of the messages, Patino wrote, «I TOLD U. I WENT 2 PUNCH HIM ON HIS BACK AGAIN AND HE MOVED AND I HIT HIM ON HIS STOMACH,» and in a another he wrote, «I HIT HIM DA SAME WAY EVERYWHERE BUT ITS DAT HE MOVED AND I HIT HIM BAD.» In an additional message, Patino wrote, «I PUNCH DAT LIL BITCH 3 TIMES AND DAT WAS IT. DA HARDEST 1 WAS ON HIS STOMACH CUZ HE MOVED. BUT LET HIM B A MAN AND NOT A LIL BITCH LIKE U.»

The defendant has been held without bail since his arrest on October 4, 2009. Sentencing has not yet been set. Cranston Police Detectives John Cardone and Jean-Paul Slaughter led the investigation. Assistant Attorney General Stephen A. Regine and Special Assistant Attorney General Peter Roklan prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.