WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The presiding judge of Anthony Patterson’s impending trial for trafficking and child sex crimes has made a decision on an emergency motion that, if granted, would likely delay proceedings set to begin in just a few days.

Just three days ahead of the scheduled start of Patterson’s trial, a hearing was held on Friday, October 27, 2023, in the 78th District Court, to address an emergency motion filed by Patterson’s defense team earlier in the week.

In the motion, Patterson’s defense team requests the court to order Jandreana Bell of Vernon, a family member of the alleged victims and Patterson’s alleged co-conspirator, to surrender her cell phone to a specialist in order to extract potential Brady material, or information that could be favorable to Patterson’s case that was recently uncovered.

After hearing arguments from both Patterson’s defense team and the prosecution, presiding Judge Meredith Kennedy denied the emergency motion, keeping the trial on schedule to begin on Monday, October 30, 2023, at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth.

In the hearing, Chuck Smith, one of the four members of Patterson’s defense counsel, argued that the information from the two recordings brings Bell’s credibility into question and should be further explored since Bell is a witness for the prosecution that has been granted use immunity for her testimony in Patterson’s upcoming trial.

The prosecution, represented by Brook Robb, an Assistant District Attorney for Wichita County, argued that the videos in question are not material evidence and they contain rumors and “hearsay upon hearsay” that is not sufficient for probable cause. She said she turned the videos over to the defense out of an abundance of caution.

Robb argued that Bell’s phone was actually turned over to Patterson’s defense team for more than a year after Bell was arrested and charges were brought against Patterson. She said the defense’s emergency motion was a “fishing expedition” that overstepped the scope of the Court’s authority.

“By this motion, they could get into anything,” Robb said.

After Judge Kennedy denied the defense’s motion, counsel for both the prosecution and the defense briefly discussed some housekeeping matters for the upcoming trial, set to begin in just three days.

Patterson, 47, of Wichita Falls, is the former president of a Wichita Falls automotive group who was first arrested in February 2021 and eventually indicted on 20 felony charges involving child trafficking and child sex crimes.

Patterson is set to face a judge and jury on these charges in Auxiliary Trial Room E of the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth beginning October 30, 2023, with 78th District Court Judge Meredith Kennedy presiding.