Former Walker County court officer accused of murdering his son can keep his lawyer

A public defender will continue to represent Patrick Ray Wooten, the former Walker County court officer accused of murdering his son.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Moeller argued during a hearing last month that Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Public Defender David Dunn should be disqualified from the case. Moeller pointed out that an attorney in Dunn’s office previously represented the victim, Patrick Lance Wooten.

But Superior Court Judge Ralph Van Pelt Jr. ruled against Moeller this morning. Van Pelt has not yet signed an order outlining his reasoning.

Public Defender David Dunn walks back to his seat during James Leon Works Jr.’s sentencing hearing before Chief Judge Kristina Cook Graham at the Catoosa County Superior Court on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in Ringgold, Ga. / Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter

The basis of Moeller’s argument during the April 11 hearing in Walker County Superior Court was confidentiality. He said Jad Johnson, a public defender who represented Lance Wooten for three months in 2014, may have taken notes during his meeting with the client. In theory, Dunn and Johnson could use the notes to tarnish Lance Wooten’s character. (Johnson testified he could not remember the details of the hearing.)

“Victims – even dead victims – have statutory and constitutional rights,” Moeller said at the time. ” You can’t use what you learned from representing Lance Wooten to represent the person who killed him.”