At the 2008 United States Olympic Trials, Patton achieved his lifetime best performance in the 100 m, running 9.89 seconds in the quarter-finals. He went even quicker in the wind-assisted (+3.1 m/s) final, clocking 9.84 seconds, and came in third place behind Tyson Gay and Walter Dix. He broke the 10-second barrier legally for the second time at the Herculis meet in Monaco, placing second behind Asafa Powell in 9.98 seconds. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he was the slowest qualifier for the 100 m final. In the final itself he ran 10.03 seconds and was again the slowest and thus the eighth placed athlete. Together with Rodney Martin, Travis Padgett and Tyson Gay he also competed at the 4 × 100 m relay, but they did not finish due to a mistake in the baton exchange between Patton and Gay and they were eliminated.