TAMPA, Fla. — The woman who made national news for killing her sister and burying her body in her backyard was back in court for the first time in two years on Thursday.
Debra Patton appeared in Hillsborough County Circuit Court wearing an orange jail uniform.
She's charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Karen Pais in May of 2021.
The I-Team reported that the sisters lived together for years, and Pais confided to friends that she feared her sister would one day kill her.
“If I disappear or I’m dead, tell them my sister did it”
Watch 2021 I-Team report on the shooting death of Karen Pais:
“I heard Karen say it many times, 'She’s gonna kill me one day,'” Pais' friend Jan Wilder said.
Debra’s ex-husband, Don Patton, told the I-Team in an interview that he uncovered Patton once devised a plot to murder him, but he was out of town on the day she planned to do it.
Pais' body was discovered buried in the backyard of her Carrollwood home several days after her friends reported her missing.
Her body was wrapped in garbage bags, bound with Bungee cords and buried two feet deep.
“We were able to locate the body in the backyard. It was identified as being her sister, and we know she was shot in the chest,” the prosecutor said at her original bond hearing in 2021. “She’s shown zero remorse. She tried to hide the fact of what she’s done.”
Patton was sent to Florida State Hospital in 2022 after psychiatrists determined she was incompetent to stand trial.
At Thursday’s hearing, the judge ruled that Patton’s competency had been restored based on his review of multiple reports from psychiatrists filed in the case.
Patton told him she wanted another public defender to represent her, but the judge told her he would not make the decision to allow her to replace her counsel until a future hearing.
Another hearing is scheduled for Feb. 20 to set her trial date.
