American lawyer stabbed to death in his home in Venezuela
An expatriate American lawyer was stabbed to death Sunday at his home in Venezuela, in what his son, an attorney in the Miami office of White & Case, says may have been a botched robbery or kidnapping attempt.
John Pate, who was in his early 70s, had lived and worked in Venezuela for decades, despite the country’s economic woes and high crime rate in recent years. A founder of the local De Sola Pate & Brown law firm, he earned his juris doctor degree from Boston University’s law school and was admitted to practice in Massachusetts, according to the Associated Press and the Latin American Herald Tribune. His home was in an upscale area of Caracas.
“He never wanted to leave. His outlook was Venezuela was a great place and was the land of opportunity,” said his son, attorney Thomas John Pate. “His family, we were always nervous. He told us that he couldn’t stop living, but he was being careful.”
The dead man’s girlfriend, Sally Evan Oquendo, 67, was wounded in the attack and hospitalized.
At last report, no suspects had been arrested.
