Former McComb Mayor Zach Patterson walked out of municipal court all smiles Wednesday after Judge Danny Smith found him not guilty of trespassing and disturbing the peace following a January dispute with a neighboring property owner.
The dispute between Patterson and Barrett Pickett began Jan. 26, after Patterson hired Wicker Engineering to survey his parents’ home, which is next door to Pickett’s in the 1000 block of Summit Street.
Pickett told prosecutor David Brewer that on Jan. 26, he came home to find surveyors there.
“I asked them what they were doing and they told me they were surveying the land,” he said.
Pickett said he asked the surveyors to get off his property or he was going to call the police, but they never left — “acted like I never even existed.”
Pickett said Patterson came onto his property shortly thereafter and the two got into an argument.
“Things got heated up,” he said.
Patterson accused Pickett of removing the surveyor’s stakes, and Pickett accused Patterson of trespassing.
Patterson’s lawyer Ottowa Carter Jr. noted that the incident report states that Pickett told police Patterson threw the survey stakes.
In an affidavit filed five days later on Feb. 21 Pickett said someone threw the stakes, but it doesn’t say who.
Pickett’s bother-in-law Michael McDowell said he and his brother were doing work on Pickett’s home when Patterson asked to speak with him. McDowell said Patterson asked him to intervene between them because he couldn’t talk to Pickett.
“I’m standing in between them and they’re in each other’s faces, you know?” McDowell said.
At one point he thought the men seemed headed toward a physical altercation but nothing happened. McDowell said Pickett asked Patterson to leave but he remained. “Eventually, he left,” McDowell said.
McDowell said Patterson and Pickett haven’t gotten along in quite some time.
Surveyor James Sanderson testified that Pickett removed the stakes and threw them at one of his employees.
“I called Patterson to the home and I told him this guy might be trouble,” Sanderson said, referring to Pickett.
Austin Wilkinson, Sanderson’s “rodman,” testified that Pickett threw the stakes toward the ground but none hit him. He also said Patterson remained calm during the incident.
Patterson took the stand last. He said he had surveys done on all of his properties.
“If I wanted to sell it or will it, I’ll have my affairs in order,” he said.
Patterson said Sanderson called him to the home after encountering Pickett.
“He said a man is out here hollering about ‘my empire, my empire,’ and I knew then who it was,” Patterson said, adding that he’s heard Pickett use such wording in the past.
“Remember, I had several properties surveyed that day and a bunch of neighbors, but when he said that, I immediately knew who it was.”
Patterson said he and Pickett have had disagreements in the past. “I’m a politician and he doesn’t like politics nor does he like me. In my line of work, you make a few enemies.”
He said he was trying to avoid confrontation with Pickett.
Smith said there was no way he could determine where the property line was or if Patterson was trespassing, and found him not guilty of either charge.
Pickett still faces his own criminal proceedings after Patterson charged him with destroying private property in connection with removing the surveying stakes. No court date has been set.
