Jefferson man gets third-degree murder
WAYNESBURG – Avery Lavon Pritchett stood stoically in court Wednesday as Greene County Judge Terry Grimes handed down a third-degree murder ruling, deciding the degree of guilt in the 2004 murder case of 18-year-old Vicki D. Kennedy. In August, Pritchett pleaded guilty to a single count of general homicide in Greene County Court after he was accused of strangling his girlfriend last September.
Kennedy’s family burst into tears Wednesday as Grimes handed down the ruling and said following the proceeding that the family was “glad” Pritchett did not get off with manslaughter.
The decision ended two days of meticulous and often grueling testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, experts and investigators regarding the strangulation of Kennedy last fall.
Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox described the Kennedy family as people who “welcomed Pritchett into their home” and said that they too did not want to believe what evidence and Pritchett’s confession has revealed as the truth in the case.
“I would like to believe Avery Pritchett but the evidence belies what Mr. Pritchett and his attorney would have us believe.
“You don’t choke someone to keep them from hitting you,” Fox said, as she closed her arguments, asking Grimes to consider first or third degree murder in the case. “There is no more personal way to kill someone than to strangle them.”
Pritchett’s attorney Michael Bigley argued that the evidence supported a degree of voluntary manslaughter, noting that “everyone” knew the couple had problems with physical and verbal abuse.
‘There are difficult facts in this case that Avery took to try and cover up his guilt,” Bigley told the court. “He talked about how to get rid of evidence by burning down the house…but he didn’t burn her body, he didn’t run away and when confronted by police he confessed within 15 minutes.”
In 2004, Pritchett was charged with criminal homicide and aggravated assault after the Sept. 28 assault on Kennedy before District Justice Neil Canan.
According to police testimony, Kennedy was found dead in the basement of a vacant house along Washington Street in Jefferson Township on Sept. 29.
Testimony painted two similar but different pictures of the events in late September at the vacant home as several Greene County law enforcement officials and then Pritchett took the witness stand Wednesday.
Both the prosecution and defense described an argument that began in a friend’s car and then continued later at the entrance to the basement of the house, which is located near a shortcut taken by walkers in the neighborhood.
And both sides agreed that Kennedy did strike Pritchett at least once in the face during the altercation.
But Fox described Pritchett as pushing Kennedy into the basement and forcibly strangling her while she was on her back.
Fox claims red paint that was spilled in the floor in the entryway to the basement corroborates her theory, with heavy amounts of paint found on the victim’s clothing and body.
Pritchett claims Kennedy pushed him into the basement and he choked her to try and keep her from hitting him but could not specifically account for the paint on her clothing.
During his two hours of testimony, Pritchett did not display the emotion evident on the confession tape played Tuesday in court, and seemed to struggle to convey the motives for putting Kennedy in the trash can face first, taking her personal identification and removing other miscellaneous items from the crime scene.
And, in a revealing moment during Fox’s cross examination, Pritchett said when he discussed burning the house to destroy the evidence with friend Paul Rush, who eventually led police to Pritchett, later that evening the 20-year-old said, “We talked about burning the body, but we didn’t. I didn’t believe the fire would get hot enough.”
Again, emotion overcame the Kennedy family after investigating officers unpacked evidence from the crime scene, including the brown, 30-gallon garbage can Kennedy’s body was found in.
The courtroom was silent and Kennedy’s family left the room as the prosecution showed a 15-minute videotape of the crime scene that included footage from the basement where Kennedy was found, her leg and hand clearly visible protruding from under a ratty furniture cushion covering the bin.
Pritchett, who is slight at 5-feet 5-inches tall and weighing about 135 pounds, admitted to the court that while he and Kennedy were comparable in size, he had superior strength.
He watched without reaction, as the tape played later testifying that he held her hand “after I put her in the garbage.”
Pritchett was a running back for the Jefferson-Morgan football team and Kennedy was involved in track and softball before both withdrew from school before graduation.
The two were childhood friends before they both moved away form the area and then reunited at Rain Day in Waynesburg ion 2002.
Greene County Coroner Gregory Rohanna pronounced Kennedy dead at the scene in the abandoned house. An autopsy conducted by Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht Sept. 29 determined Kennedy died from “asphyxiation by manual strangulation.”
On Tuesday, Wecht told the Greene County courtroom that the injuries to Kennedy were not too severe and added that she was probably conscious for about one minute during the strangulation and could have possibly been saved for an additional six minutes after she lost consciousness.
Pritchett has had run-ins with the law before this incident.
He was cited for harassment in 2003 following a fight with a 15-year-old Mather resident and in a separate incident Pritchett was cited for allegedly pushing a juvenile over a guide rail, causing a cut on the victim’s leg.
Pritchett was also charged with simple assault and vandalism in two additional cases in 2003.
A sentencing hearing will be held for Pritchett later this year with the maximum penalty of 20-40 years in prison.