AUBURN, Ala. – Former Tiger Transit driver Tony Patillo has been sentenced to 21 years and 3 months in prison.
Judge Christopher J. Hughes took Patillo’s age and comparable cases into consideration for the sentence. Patillo has approximately 19 months of jail credit that will be applied.
Patillo’s attorney Jon Taylor said that his client’s lack of a criminal record or history of violence should be taken into consideration during the sentence.
Taylor asked for a sentence in the bottom range of ten to 15 years with a split sentence of two to three years.
“This is a single night in an otherwise relatively well-lived life,” said Taylor. “He made some horrible decisions on a single night.”
Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes said that Patillo’s role as a Tiger Transit driver was to protect students, which he failed to do.
“His choice wasn’t to comfort, to care or to help. His choice was to attack her,” said Hughes. “We’re not going to allow that here.”
The rape and sodomy convictions carried a sentence between ten years and life in prison. The district attorney’s office was seeking the maximum sentence.
The assault occurred on a university bus on homecoming weekend in September 2017. At a trial on March 4, Patillo was found guilty of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree and public lewdness.
Another Tiger Transit driver facing charges, James Johnson Jr., will go on trial at a later date.
