CHEYENNE - After Chris Floyd was released from the Wyoming State Penitentiary in May 2002, he received a letter that gave him remarkably explicit, detailed directions of what he should do and what he should avoid - particularly alcohol and prescription drugs and the bus depot crowd.

At the time he received the letter dated May 7, 2002, Chris Floyd was staying at the Yellowstone Motel in Casper. He was preparing to enter Casper College and stay in an apartment for nontraditional students.

The letter included a map of the college campus with Roberts Commons circled in yellow - that was where he could get something to eat.

"Don't let the things you have to do overwhelm you," the letter said. "If you feel you are beginning to panic, sit down, relax and calm down and think it through. It is not that difficult to get all of these things done."

Another letter that also dealt with Floyd's transition from prison told him how to handle himself during a bus layover in Cheyenne enroute from Rawlins to Casper: Don't hang out at the bus depot (the letter referred to bus passengers as "a pretty seamy bunch"); eat only at restaurants that don't serve alcoholic beverages; fight the temptation to get off the bus at every stop; and "don't lose your bus ticket."

Other letters referred to money sent to him in prison with a warning that the financial help he was getting to set him up in an apartment and to start college would be minimal.

"I am not going to let you run me into debt again," the letter said. "I just will not do it. I am sixty-three years old and retirement is getting closer and closer. I just want you to understand this and expect it. I am not intending to retire in poverty."

In an earlier letter, the writer warned Floyd to keep his medical appointments to a minimum until he got registered at Casper College and had health insurance coverage.

"I do not have a bunch of money that I can use to pay for doctors, hospitals and prescriptions. I will manage to pay for the prescription medicine you have to have enough to least until you can register and get your health insurance."

"And I absolutely mean this - don't get there and start stuffing yourself with pain medications. You are an addict, and you know that you like those things - you must keep that to an absolute minimum," the letter added.

Although the letters sound like the hectoring of a protective or controlling parent signed "Dad" and "Your father," the writer was District Judge Hunter Patrick of the 5th Judicial District in Cody.

On June 28, 2002, his 29th birthday, Chris Floyd died of an overdose of prescription drugs while attending Casper College.

Floyd's father, Alan Floyd of Powell, refers to the judge's intensive involvement in his son's life as an "experiment." Alan Floyd said he does so because Patrick told him he felt that he and another individual in the area knew a great deal about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which apparently afflicted Chris Floyd and for which he was prescribed Ritalin.

"That's why I call it an experiment. I think it was something he was trying to see if he could have some success with it. I really do," Alan Floyd said.

Alan Floyd, who acknowledged he was an alcoholic who no longer drinks, said he blames the judge for being too protective and permissive with his son rather than requiring discipline.

He said he and his wife divorced when Chris was 5 years old.

But while Alan Floyd is critical of Patrick, his ex-wife, Vickie Johnson of Peoria, Ill., said the judge was a role model for Chris and never turned his back on him, according to a story in the Billings Gazette.

"I can't speak highly enough of Judge Patrick," Johnson said. "He's done nothing wrong, and he's being crucified because he cared about another human being."

She was referring to complaints filed with the Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics concerning Patrick's involvement with Chris Floyd.

Alan Floyd said he did not file a complaint against the judge.

Patrick, 66, recently announced he would retire from the 5th Judicial District seat Aug. 1 after 18 years on the District Court bench. He said his retirement had no connection with the commission's investigation.

Issued along with Patrick's retirement announcement was an extraordinary news release explaining his special interest in juvenile issues as a district judge and, before that, as a municipal judge. He said he tried to help juveniles turn their lives around, often through innovative means.

Without identifying Chris Floyd by name, the judge's apologetic release said his deepest regrets about his judiciary service involved this case.

He said that although he assigned the case to another judge in 1991, he continued to try to help this particular young man.

"I acknowledge that I let myself get too close to him," he said in the release.

Alan Floyd said Patrick first encountered Chris as a juvenile who was out of control and had alcohol-related offenses.

"My son had very bad drug and alcohol problems," Alan Floyd said.

While drunk, Chris tried to knife his sister, and subsequently cut his father during a scuffle.

Alan Floyd pressed charges against his son, and Chris was sentenced to the Wyoming State Penitentiary for aggravated assault and served two years.

During an interview, Patrick said Chris was 17 when he first saw him in court.

"He was an alcoholic, there's no questions about that - from an early age," Patrick said.

Floyd claimed Patrick terminated his parental rights. Not so, Patrick said. He said the district judge who sentenced Chris to prison ordered in the judgment that he have no contact whatsoever with his father.

The judge also rejected Floyd's assertion that his involvement with Chris was an experiment.

"No. I don't experiment with anybody," Patrick said.

He reiterated that he is not allowed to comment "one way or another" about any action taken by the commission against him following its investigation.

He said earlier that the fact he still is on the bench and was qualified to sit on cases after he retires attest to his status.

Chris, he said, married and had a son, then divorced and then lived with another woman and had a child with her.

As for the detailed letters he sent Chris before and after he left prison, Patrick said the parole board required Chris to have a plan.

"He didn't have anybody to help him with that," he said. "He could not contact his father or his father's family. So he called me."

The judge said he wanted Chris to move to Peoria, Ill., where his mother lives. He said he had stayed in touch with Chris's mother and thought relocation would be the best thing for him.

But the parole board refused and required Chris to stay in Wyoming.

Patrick said he thought the next best solution would be for Chris to attend Casper College, so he arranged for him to get an apartment and helped him to apply for a Pell grant and to enroll for student health insurance.

The latter enabled him to get medical treatment for his pancreatitis.

"I did all that so he would have a plan. I saw a great opportunity," Patrick said. "It was the big chance he had to start all over and do something with his life."

He said he signed his letter to Chris as "Dad" or "Your father" because, "That's how he saw me. When he wrote to me he started his letters with, 'Dear father.'"

One of the drugs he overdosed on was morphine, probably prescribed for his pain from pancreatitis, he said.

"It was a sad story for him," Patrick said. "I have no interest trashing him or Alan or anyone else."

Former District Judge Betty Kail of Lander said she would not have become as close to a juvenile as Patrick had to Chris Floyd.

"But it's a rotten shame he's retiring with this over his head," Kail said. "Of all the judges, he's the one that really tried to do the most for the public."

She said Patrick's naturalization ceremonies were "wonderful" and his law day was a "wondrous work."

"He did so many things like that he deserves to be remembered for, not a mistake he may or may not have made by trying too hard to help a young man," Kail said. "He's a compassionate person. He's a fine man."

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.