The prominent trial attorney was a lifelong resident of Georgia, dividing his time between Atlanta and the island of St. Simmons. It was off Gould’s Inlet Beach at the last location where Pate was swept away by a rip current, Glynn County Fire-Rescue Chief Vinnie DiCristofalo told CNN. DiCristofalo told the agency that shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, lifeguards received a call about “two swimmers in distress. The chief confirmed that the two swimmers were Pate and his son. While his son made it to shore safely, Pate did not. According to CNN, a rescue boat pulled Pate from the water and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. DiCristofalo said, “I don’t have immediate information if they were together and if they were taken.” But Hurricane Earl, which hit Puerto Rico last weekend and has been tracking along the East Coast on a northerly track all week, may have boosted local flows. According to CNN, Pate leaves behind a wife and two sons. Pate has regularly contributed to local and national media on high-profile legal issues and trials, including local news outlets such as 11Alive News, CBS 46 News and WABE in Atlanta. He was also a regular on CNN and reported on constitutional law and other legal issues in the New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News and many other national and local publications.
