A prominent Georgia defense attorney who often provided legal analysis for news organizations covering high-profile cases drowned over the weekend while swimming in waters near his coastal home, a coroner said Tuesday. Page Pate, 55, has been a trial attorney for more than 25 years, dividing his time between offices in Atlanta and Brunswick on the coast.
twitter.com/pagepate
Pate’s death was also confirmed Tuesday by Pate, Johnson & Church, an Atlanta-based law firm, CBS affiliate WGCL-TV reported.
“Once the shock wears off, it just hurts. And there’s no easy way to get rid of that other than time and grief. But I think one thing that we can also take away is the celebration of this man’s life,” said Tom Church, Pate’s legal partner.
Pate drowned Sunday while swimming with his teenage son in a cove on St. Simons Island, where the family lived, said Glynn County Coroner Marc Neu. Father and son were swept into open water by powerful currents, Neu told The Brunswick News.
Pate’s son swam back to shore unharmed, but a rescue team had to pull Pate out of the water. Despite attempts to revive him, the coroner said, Pate was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
“Although he was an impressive, sometimes intimidating attorney in the courtroom, Page had an easy smile, a genuine laugh and a great sense of humor,” Pate’s law firm, Pate, Johnson and Church, said in a statement.
Pate was from Dublin, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia Law School in 1994. He specialized in criminal defense and handled cases in state and federal courts.
In addition to handling cases, Pate frequently provided expert commentary and analysis on legal issues to media organizations such as The New York Times, CNN, NPR and The Associated Press.
Jason Sheffield, a trial attorney from the Atlanta metro area and president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, called Pate “a larger-than-life person and an attorney.”
“Page’s dedication, creativity, knowledge and compassion for those prosecuted in the United States was legendary,” Sheffield told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
State Senator Jen Jordan, an Atlanta Democrat who is running for Georgia attorney general this fall, posted on social media Tuesday that she has known Pate for nearly three decades.
Devastated to hear that my friend @pagepate passed away this weekend. We’ve been friends for almost 30 years and come from the same part of GA. He was brilliant, friendly, professional – and could bloody interview a witness. Such a loss to his family and all who loved him.
— Jen Jordan (@senatorjen) September 13, 2022
“He was brilliant, kind, professional – and could friggin’ cross-examine a witness,” Jordan tweeted. “Such a loss to his family and everyone who loved him.”
Pate was also a founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), which said it was “broken” by Pate’s death.
“A passionate advocate for the criminally accused and wrongly convicted, Page was a visionary founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project twenty years ago,” the group wrote on Facebook. “He remained active in our organization over the years, advising on cases, advising on media strategies and raising awareness of wrongful convictions and the work of GIP.”
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