Man Accused of Killing Little Italy Restaurant Manager Pleads Guilty

By Andrew Michaels - November 27, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

The 24-year-old Baltimore man charged with the murder of La Scala restaurant’s general manager, Chesley Patterson, repeatedly denied involvement in the 44-year-old’s death after accepting a plea of 50 years in prison on Nov. 27.

Patterson, a well-known restaurateur in Little Italy, was found gunned down shortly after 11 p.m. on the 1700 block of Eastern Avenue on Jan. 23, 2022. The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) later connected Patterson’s death to a string of robberies that occurred earlier that evening and identified defendant Samuel Wise.

In addition to first-degree murder, Wise was charged with three counts of firearm use in a felony or violent crime and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, two counts of attempted armed robbery as well as armed robbery, first-degree assault and first and second-degree escape.

On Monday, Wise was scheduled to begin his jury trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy, but instead, accepted a plea offer from the prosecution. The terms of the plea included life, suspending all but 50 years, and three years of supervised probation for first-degree murder, a concurrent 20 years, the first five years without parole, for firearm use in a felony or violent crime and a concurrent five years for first-degree escape.

He is also required to register as a gun offender.

Defense attorney Stephanie Salter, alongside co-counsel Janine Meckler, informed Judge Handy of her intent to file a motion to modify her client’s sentence, saying Wise “is a person who can be rehabilitated…” given his lack of a record. The judge responded she would likely deny this motion given the binding plea.

“You took a man’s life,” Judge Handy told Wise after saying she wasn’t sure if the tearful defendant was crying for himself or for the victim and his family. “You ruined many other lives.”

Although Wise had declined to speak earlier in the proceeding, he told the judge he was sorry for Patterson’s family, “but I didn’t do anything.”

“His family is not the only one affected,” Wise added.

During Monday’s hearing, the prosecution informed the court that officers were first called to a robbery around 11 p.m. on the 1500 block of Lancaster Street, where suspects stole a man’s book bag, including a laptop, headphones and wallet. One of the men then hit the victim in the back of his head.

A short time later, police were alerted of another robbery on the 800 block of Bond Street, where men attempted to steal from another victim, but ran away after rifling through the victim’s pockets.

Patterson’s murder occurred during the third robbery when video surveillance footage showed the victim loading the trunk of his car after leaving the Bristol Liquor store. When Patterson got into the driver’s seat of his car, footage shows a gold Honda Odyssey block the victim’s car. A man, later identified as Wise, is then seen getting out of the front passenger’s seat of the van, opening Patterson’s car door and shooting him before getting back in the van.

The van was later found at a gas pump at BP Gas station on 2920 Waterview Avenue. Police attempted to stop the it; however, the driver sped away after he was seen speaking with another robbery suspect who pointed to the marked police car.

Police found Wise’s fingerprints on the front passenger’s door of the van on Jan. 25, 2022. On March 17, 2022, Wise agreed to speak with police, telling them he was watching a football game in the van with people he didn’t know. The defendant also admitted to sitting in the van’s front passenger’s seat and gave police permission to search his cell phone.

During their investigation, detectives found a text from Wise to his girlfriend, saying, “I’m robbing.” When another person texted Wise an image of the crime scene on Eastern Avenue, the defendant responded, “That was us.”

Wise was also charged with escape after he attempted to escape police custody, but was apprehended.