It is officially case closed for a Las Cruces teacher who admitted to molesting some of his students back in 2021. Third Judicial District Court Judge Douglas Driggers ended Patrick Howard’s probation early, dismissing his felony sex crime.

The dismissal came shortly after a federal jury awarded one of his victims $44 million in civil rights damages in March.

“It says to victims of sexual abuse, you don’t matter,” said Shannon Kennedy.

Shannon Kennedy represents T.R., one of Howard’s victims, in the federal civil rights case.

“I was really upset, like infuriated, just at a loss for words at the fact that even happened,” T.R. said about the dismissal.

T.R., now 22 years old, said she was just 15 years old when it all started. She was a student at Las Cruces High School. Howard was her mentor, her teacher, her Future Farmers of America advisor, and her abuser.

“She trusted him and believed in him, and her 15-year-old self and 16-year-old self then had to realize that no, he was just treating her in this way because he was sexually attracted to her,” Kennedy said.

Howard admitted as much in federal court. Kennedy said on the stand Howard said he touched T.R., even while she was sleeping on school trips. He told attorneys, on at least one occasion, he was pleasured by it.

It was so out of bounds that a jury ordered him to pay T.R. $44 million in March. But before long, T.R. and her attorney were thrust back into Howard’s criminal case.

“Within weeks of the $44 million verdict he and his defense attorney and the DA came into court, and he was released from probation two years early,” Kennedy said.

How it happened? It really started in 2018 when he was arrested on five charges related to sexually touching his female students.

Facing 24 years in prison, Howard took a deal in 2021. He admitted to touching two students in exchange for five years’ probation and a conditional discharge. That means if he doesn’t pick up new charges, the felony sex charge disappears.

“I was told the plea was the only way I was going to get any sort of justice and I think that’s ridiculous,” T.R. said.

From the moment Howard signed that deal, T.R. said she learned all about what she calls the “good ol’ boys club.”

For most criminals, probation means no alcohol, no weapons, no contact of any kind with the victim. But for some reason, Howard didn’t have to play by those rules.

Judge Driggers amended his probation, giving him the OK to drink, carry guns, and even attend sporting events at NMSU where his victims went to college.

“In other words, no consequences whatsoever in his life impacting her life,” Kennedy said.

New Mexico’s Probation and Parole office objected. In fact, court documents show Howard’s probation officer even refused to sign the orders.

KOB 4 searched through close to 200 felony-level sexual crimes in the Third Judicial District over the years, but we couldn’t find one other person who got that level of relaxed restrictions.

Then, Judge Driggers discharged Howard from probation two years early, despite the $44 million verdict, despite Howard’s admission of sexual gratification, and despite a state law requiring sexual assault victims to be notified of a decision like this.

“That’s unheard of, really a betrayal by the DA’s office, by Judge Driggers of the community of young women who were so impacted, so courageous to stop this man from hurting others,” Kennedy said.

Judge Driggers denied our request for an interview. We sat down with District Attorney Gerald Byers who said he was unaware of Howard’s unusual conditions of probation.

Byers said a very experienced prosecutor made the call to plea bargain, to cut out the sex offender registry, and allow for a conditional discharge. With the permission of the victims in this case, he noted.

KOB 4 asked if that prosecutor was the same attorney brought up in Howard’s federal trial – which Howard says he may have known from church.

“I have no idea who the prosecutor knew. I have no idea who the defendant knew. All I can tell you is I have nothing in the record to believe that this prosecutor who handled this case gave this guy any special dispensation because of friendship, prior knowledge, or anything else like that,” DA Byers said.

He admits his office failed to notify Howard’s victims before the judge discharged his probation two years early.

“I sincerely apologize. And I can tell you who is responsible for that, I am. You know why I’m responsible for that? Because I’m the elected district attorney,” Byers said.

He blames a tight turnaround between the defense filing a motion to discharge probation and the court setting the hearing. He said typically they have seven working days. In this case, they had less than 24 hours.

“It says to victims of sexual abuse, you don’t matter,” Kennedy said.

Right now, in grad school out of state, T.R. doesn’t know if she will ever feel safe returning to the place she once called home.

She said she came forward to make sure this didn’t happen to anyone else. With the ruling from the court, she feels like it’s all for nothing.

“I think it’s really disgusting for people to think that rape should be the standard for something to be considered wrong,” T.R. said.

The New Mexico Department of Justice is looking into how this case played out. KOB 4 reached out to Howard, his civil and criminal attorneys – but they did not get back to us.

Howard’s New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority policy will be on the hook for that $44 million judgment.

We also learned because of the conditional discharge, that policy may even cover his criminal defense attorney fees.